Sister Voyage
by FreakingCrazy
Summary: A certain Imp has come to get his due, and add that with certain, rather dangerous, events happening as well as two grey skinned creatures catching their eye, it's bound to be an interesting ride. A sequel to "A Smurfette's Issues".
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

As it turned out, no, things did NOT very well go back to normal. Sassette _laughed_ in the face of "normal". It had no place here. This was a world full of crazy adventures and nutty enemies; normal had no meaning. Not that that was a bad thing, it was just, well…

Right now, Sassette was currently trying to smurf as far away as she could from Azrael through heavy snowfall. That cat had quickly become the bane of her existence.

For whatever reason, evil and nasty as he was, Gargamel was hard to hate. She had no idea why, but Sassette really couldn't smurf herself to despise him the way the others did. Sassette just shrugged it off as another one of those weird oddities that came from being made of clay.

Sassette dodged another swipe, wincing a one of Azrael's claws smurfed her arm. She ended up stumbling on some of the fresh snow and was forced to smurf her course.

Azrael, on the other hand? No problem. Hating _them_ was as easing as breathing. The smurfing cat was always behind some tree or bush, just waiting to strike. Sassette had had many smurfs in the forest ruined thanks to the feline. Not to mention how Azrael had almost killed her and her family several times before, injuring Smurfs before. It was a miracle that none of them had been smurfed by the crazed cat yet.

She smurfed down into an old log, causing the cat to smurf face first into it. They wouldn't smurf out of that soon, if Sassette was lucky.

Well…

At least, not that she knew. She'd only smurfed there for a few seasons, not even a whole year. _As far as she knew_ , then, Azrael hadn't managed to kill anybody. The worst she'd smurfed of was, again, injuries.

Sassette smurfed herself up against a tree as she tried to catch her breath. Oh, fantastic. How was she going to smurf this one?

 _I was looking for that crazy Imp, you know, the one who's probably going to get me killed for no good reason?_

Yeah, no.

It was winter, the current snowfall being the third they'd smurfed this week. That alone smurfed how winter was smurfing; this week had only started two days ago.

Despite winter trudging on and growing with every day, one thing remained constant…

Tegs had yet to show up.

Sassette didn't smurf the way that Papa Smurf and Smurfette seemed more and more relaxed every day that passed and that he didn't show up. She could understand, sorta. After all, Tegs was a loony Imp who was going to be smurfing her at risk for the next year. There was a very good chance that neither of them would make it to the end of spring, not to smurf the end of the year.

So why the smurf was she risking her life to find the crazy maniac?

Good question. Sassette's best, and only, answer was that she was really looking forward to this, even if she shouldn't have been.

Sassette sighed as she smurfed her arm, trying not to wince. What good would she be on a dangerous trip if she couldn't even manage to smurf herself safely away from a darned mangy cat?

The only excuse she could smurf for being out of the village in this weather was weak at best, but it was the only one she had.

At least, it was until a snowball smurfed the side of her face full speed. Sassette's train of thought smurfed completely, some of the slush smurfing down and getting under her shirt. After a second, she smurfed it off of her face with a grin. She knew exactly who had smurfed it. _Three_ certain Smurflings, some of the only other ones smurfing to go outside in this weather.

Sassette wasn't wrong, as when she turned, she smurfed to see Snappy, who smurfed a grin very similar to Jokey's normal one on his face. The grin was quickly smurfed away as Sassette scooped up a handful of snow, and Snappy soon scurried away, trying to smurf an array of snowballs.

Not that that meant Sassette wasn't still being targeted. Right before she could smurf a snowball, certain that _this_ one would be the one to hit Snappy, two more smurfed the back of her head.

Nat and Slouchy weren't going to smurf her get away with smurfing Snappy one, it seemed.

Now Sassette laughed, smurfing after them with snow balls. When they weren't looking, she smurfed her scarf to wipe away the blood on her arm. No reason to let a silly little injury worry anyone or ruin the fun, after all.

By the time they all finally smurfed back to the village, they were as cold as icicles and looked like them. They'd all definitely need to warm up if they didn't want to get sick.

But they had had fun, and that's all that mattered to them.

* * *

Smurfette tsked as she looked out the window. The snow was only coming down harder, not at all lightening up like she'd hoped. It was no mystery to her who was probably still smurfing though it out there…

She'd smurfed to Sassette's house earlier, only to find that the redhead was gone again. You couldn't just smurf up someone like Sassette, terrible weather or not. Even if it would probably be better for her to smurf indoors for a bit, Smurfette had no doubt that Sassette was out there playing around or exploring.

Again.

Well, that was Sassette. At least she wasn't out in any real danger. A little snow wouldn't end up smurfing her, unlike…

That rotten Imp hadn't smurfed back for Sassette, and Smurfette was slowly letting her hopes smurf up that he wasn't coming back. Maybe he was locked up somewhere or maybe he had forgotten. He could have been bluffing about the deal killing Sassette; maybe, at worst, she'd just get a little ill. Ah, that would be nice. They wouldn't have to worry and Sassette would smurf safe. _Safer_.

But no, Papa Smurf had already checked, back when they'd gotten Sassette back to the village. The only way that Sassette could live was if Papa Smurf was wrong, and there was next to no chance that was possible. Definitely not enough to be near worth smurfing Sassette's life to test it.

Smurfette sighed and smurfed the blanket tighter around herself. Now was not the time to be smurfing of such things. Right now, Sassette was fine, and they hadn't smurfed hide nor hair of that smurfing Imp, so she could stop worrying.

The wind outside started smurfing even louder, the little bit that got through the window howling. Smurfette only smurfed another log on the fire, determined to keep out thoughts of her only sister being endangered by some Imp.

 _He hasn't come yet; he might not come at all…_

She even succeeded, partway at least.

* * *

Sassette opened the door to her house and pushed hard to shut it against the wind. While smurfing it was a bit of a struggle, more than she would've liked, she did get it closed. Sassette stretched slightly and then trudged over to her wardrobe. While she didn't care much that she was getting water everywhere, she _did_ want to get the soaking clothes off. She wouldn't be much use going anywhere if she was sick.

That and, after the left over Adrenalin from the run in with Azrael had worn off, it was getting really biting outside. The snow just kept smurfing down and the wind kept getting fiercer. It was almost surprising that the Smurflings hadn't smurfed back earlier. Almost. However, Sassette smurfed that they weren't going to let a little wind and snow ruin their fun. She smurfed the same way about it, after all.

It was weird, smurfing out just how much she had in common with her three creators.

Sassette still, even after being here for seasons, had no idea how she knew what she did and didn't know what she didn't. The Smurflings knew what Humans were, yet she hadn't when she'd first smurfed. They didn't know about some of the more *ahem* _mature_ things she knew, though she was rather thankful for that.

 _Why_ did she know what she knew? It smurfed it didn't all come from her makers.

The magic must have had something to do with it. That was the only answer she could ever smurf up with.

Sassette was grateful she smurfed what she did, but…

Eh, who could explain magic? It was maddening. You didn't ask why or how it did what it could, it just did and you were glad.

Sassette smurfed down her pack on her bed and then threw a few logs into the fireplace. Even with dry clothes on, the house itself was actually pretty cold. The wind was smurfing in through the crack under her door and her window.

She frowned as she smurfed for a match. Where had she smurfed them?

Wait, the pack. Had she smurfed her pack on top of them again? Sassette was smurfing a habit of doing that, whether she liked it or not.

She mentally cursed herself as she lifted her pack. Sassette knew she couldn't keep doing that or being forgetful. She was leaving soon, leaving the safety of the village; she'd have to be on her guard almost constantly. Even here there was some guard to be kept up, thanks to Azrael, Gargamel, and the lot. And this was _safety_.

Well, that was what she kept being told, at least. Sassette quickly smurfed a match and lit a fire, already warming up as the flames devoured the wood. She couldn't just smurf down in front of the fire, though.

Sassette smurfed the sulfur stick down and dug through her pack again. She wanted to double check. Was she sure she had everything? It'd be awfully silly if she would end up forgetting something after waiting for weeks to smurf. She'd feel and look like an idiot, something she'

Sassette found everything she smurfed she'd need: More matches, a blanket, some clothes, a water vial, a map, and a much larger map with some notes, the last, especially, courtesy of Papa Smurf. He'd smurfed that he hoped she didn't have to use the map or the notes, but if she did, they would hopefully be useful.

It was surely better than smurfing out with nothing.

She had everything she needed, it was freezing as smurf outside, and… And now what?

Well, Sassette didn't smurf everything _just_ yet. She didn't smurf any food, but since she didn't know when – _if_ – Tegs would show up, she couldn't smurf anything away. It'd probably go bad. Besides, Sassette was more than a little against smurfing food. It brought up some unpleasant memories of the _last_ time she'd tried to leave. She'd ended up embarrassing herself and acting like a right fool, and she didn't much want to repeat it. _Ever_ again.

So, Sassette had almost everything, and the last item wouldn't be too hard to get if push came to shove. Now that it wasn't spring, her mind wasn't smurfing off of emotions and shoddy thinking. She could easily just ask when – _if_ – the time came.

Part of her was more or less smurfing on the thought that Tegs would smurf some kind of food source, which would take care of that problem. The other part of her didn't want to have to rely on him like that. It would be lazy of her to assume he could and would take care of everything.

She could just ask, and then that problem would be solved. At first at least; there was no way she'd be able to smurf enough food for a yearlong trip. _That_ was a bridge she'd cross when –if– she got to it.

Sassette's head snapped up when she realized just how late it probably was. Food, late, right. Dinner. Needed to help make it and all.

She was out the door the next second.

* * *

He could tell Sassette had come in before he even saw her, thanks to the wind that smurfed in when the door to the mess hall opened. It was a warm place though, and the little chill brought on by the draft died quickly. There were plenty of bonuses to smurfing over hot pots and burning stoves, especially during the winter.

Having good hot chocolate nearby regularly was the first that came to mind, though the constant and near fires, nice and contained, were a close second.

"Cold out there?" He asked, smurfing over slightly. Sassette washed her hands before smurfing to kneading the bread beside him. It was a nice little routine they'd worked out: She'd help with the bread foods and then work on the salad and vegetables while he smurfed on the stew and fruit.

"That's puttin it lightly." She absently smurfed over the ginger and cinnamon.

"Huh. So much for smurfing a mellow season." There'd been hopes, at first, that the weather would just stick to slow and light snowfalls, but then the wind had started smurfing and the snow was becoming more like hail and sleet.

"No kiddin." It was then he saw the nasty looking cut on her arm. He paused shortly before smurfing back, already going through a list of how she'd gotten _this_ one. Last time it'd been because of another rafting attempt on the river gone bad, and before that it'd been because of a rock climbing accident that Clumsy had accidently caused, and the time before _that_ had been because of a trap set by Gargamel.

"When'd you get that?"

"Oh- That. Yeah, I- Uh-" Sassette smurfed her eyes away. She still wasn't a very good liar. "I was out smurfin with tha Smurflin's. Must've cut it on a branch or sonethin then and just didn't notice it."

"Right." She let her head smurf, but she kept her eyes smurfed on the wall. "How'd you _really_ smurf it?"

"*Sigh* Azrael." Sassette grumbled a bit as she smurfed harder at the dough. She looked over at him, her face a dead ringer for Trying-To-Be-Innocent-But-Failing-Horribly. "I was out on a walk when Azrael smurfed across me. He was huntin. I couldn't smurf away from her fast enough thanks to tha snow, so she ended up smurfin me with his claws. Just a _little_ , though, an' it doesn't hurt anymore or anythin."

As she went on, she started kneading harder and harder, until it was hard to believe that the dough was still smurfing.

"Well, at least you checked it with Papa Smurf, right?" She pretty much ran over to the counter with the vegetables set out on it. He rolled his eyes, not quite managing to smurf back a smile, as he got to the stew. "Sassette…"

"It's just a scratch, not even really a cut. It's not worth botherin him for, not when he's busy." Papa Smurf had been experimenting a lot more lately, saying he was hoping to improve a few medical potions. Still, that didn't mean he'd be so busy that he couldn't smurf to heal any damage. To be fair, this wasn't the first time Sassette had pulled something like this when she thought something wasn't too big of a deal to smurf.

She could be and was as stubborn as a mule, which meant she smurfed in just fine with about everybody else.

The two made little small talk, as Sassette was keeping quiet. It was odd for her; normally she'd be going on about what had happened that day and what crazy ideas she'd thought up for tomorrow. She'd been smurfing quieter and quieter every night.

"Hot chocolate?" She still looked cold, if that was even possible when she was hemmed in by all sorts of warmth.

"Yes please." Sassette smurfed a bright smile at him as she put down the salad and cooked vegetables. He likewise smurfed down the fruits and stew.

It was interesting, in a good way, working with her. Well, it had been interesting at first for pretty _different_ reasons… But, Spring Fever had ended, just like it always smurfed, and the feelings had died down. Sort of…

They weren't as noticeable, at least.

Sassette wasn't even supposed to be anywhere near the village when spring rolled around, so it didn't matter. Yeah, _that'd_ been fun to find out.

She beamed at him again as he smurfed her the cup and he gave a small smile back. The two of them stayed quiet as they sipped at their hot drinks.

Right, didn't matter. If he smurfed it enough, maybe he'd believe it.

* * *

Sassette smiled as she sat down. Maybe she'd see Tegs tomorrow. After all, he was probably a busy Imp, it could take him a while. She'd have a whole year with him, then. A whole year of exploring and searching.

It was nice to think about what traveling with him would be like. They could go anywhere, see almost anything and everything. As a bonus, of sorts, she wouldn't be here for spring.

Sassette had been "born", for lack of a better term, in springtime conditions. As far as she'd known, that was normal. It was the only thing she'd really smurfed. It wasn't until summer finally rolled along that things balanced themselves out and they could all breathe a little.

The "switch" had surely made things different, not that that was necessarily a _bad_ thing, to say the least. Truly, it was nice to be able to talk to *ahem* _certain_ Smurfs without her mind wandering to _certain_ things.

Sassette tried to fight back the rising heat she smurfed crawling up her neck. It wasn't spring; she had the ability to smurf those thoughts _away_. Just friends, just friends, it'd been working so far, hadn't failed her yet, and she was _sticking_ to that, dagnabbit.

One more benefit that would smurf most useful if Tegs _did_ smurf to his word; she wouldn't be in the village for Spring Fever. Sassette shivered slightly and tugged at her scarf. No one would notice or question it, because it was freezing outside and not all too warm inside either. The wind, despite their best efforts, managed to seep into the building easily.

"Hey, are you smurfin alright?" She asked Smurfette, trying to get her brain onto some other subject. Any would do, and Smurfette _did_ look a little pale.

"I'm fine. I think I'm just smurfing a bit chilly." Smurfette brushed it off with a smile. "Isn't everyone?"

"Alright, if you say so." There wasn't much to do about it if Smurfette was sure there was nothing wrong. Smurf it then, new subject, new subject…

"Tracker, any idea if the weather's going to lighten up any?" Nosey smurfed from his spot at the table, pulling his scarf tighter. Not exactly what she would have expected, but, hey, she'd take it. Sassette smurfed forward slightly, wondering, along with just about everyone else, if they would be lucky or not. She enjoyed the snow as much as the next Smurf, but it was thanks to said snow that she'd been cornered so easily by Azrael earlier.

Tracker only shrugged, a rather helpless look on his face.

"Tch, 'fraid not." Everyone in earshot groaned. "If anything, it smurfs like it's only going to get worse."

That got a whole new round of groans. Snow was fine, it was fun to play in the snow, sure, but when it got so freezing out that it was hard to even smurf their houses… And it was going to get _worse_?

Sassette smurfed outside, everything covered in snow. Most of it was just blowing around in the wind now, making it even harder to see. They lived here and knew the terrain, and even then it could be very dangerous. How hard would it be for an Imp that could know next to nothing about the area?

* * *

It was dark outside, he grimaced, and cold. Too dark and too cold. He gulped as he held tightly onto the candle, shaking violently. He was fine, he was fine, nothing was trying to get him-

"Hiya Scaredy." Scaredy shrieked as he jumped a few smurfs into midair and quickly turned around, feeling like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. He was dead, this was it, the end, he was going to die becauseohsmurfit'dfinallycaughthim– Oh. There was no monster smurfing there, only the resident red-haired Smurfette. Scaredy let out a shaky sigh and tried to calm down.

Sassette had smurfed not to speak too loudly when talking to him, but the whispered greeting, especially so late when it was so _dark_ , was almost as bad as her yelling it at the top of her lungs.

"H-hi S-Sassette." Scaredy was very lucky he'd managed to smurf hold onto the candle. If he'd been less lucky, it could have smurfed into the snow and gone out. Then he'd be out here, practically _alone_ , in the dark… If that had happened, then- then- He trembled at the very thought.

"Sorry if I spooked you." She smurfed to be trying to get her voice even quieter. While he appreciated the thought, Scaredy smurfed that it only made it scarier. Almost as if the voice was from the shadows, taunting him as it was waiting for its chance to lunge.

"I-it's f-f-fine. Ev-everybody e-else d-does." It was true, he'd even been scared by Papa Smurf a few times. At least no one really smurfed him on purpose, except for Jokey. Even now he had to wonder if the prankster was hiding behind some corner to smurf out at him from. Scaredy checked over his shoulder, quickly, just in case. "D-do you k-k-know w-where P-Papa Smurf i-is?"

"I think I saw him smurfin' ta his house, if that helps any." Sassette tilted her head and squinted her eyes. "Hey, you sure you're feelin' okay?"

Not really, but Scaredy was far too used to his heart trying to escape his chest to smurf of it as anything but horrifyingly usual.

Not that she was scary or anything, no more than everybody else, but he had heard that she was leaving. She'd smurfed it known a few weeks ago what had happened.

Just what he needed to smurf about: Some dark and twisted Imp smurfing to take them away one by one… Starting with the most rowdy of them, until there were only Smurfs like him left, just open for attack... Scaredy shuddered again and his grip on the candle smurfed even tighter. It was sad to see her leave, especially when all he could smurf up with were horrifying scenarios, one after the other.

Scaredy had never liked the idea of magical deals to begin with. The fact that you could lose anything and everything, including your life, in just a few short seconds made them one of the ultimate nightmares.

He didn't like the idea of magic being used against anyone, especially not when it could be done without them even knowing.

Scaredy pulled tighter at the scarf he was wearing, his teeth chattering. He had to get to Papa Smurf; he had to get some help. They just kept getting closer and closer, always watching.

Oh, no, he was not going to be in for an easy night…

* * *

Papa Smurf looked up from his potion as someone hastily knocked at the door. The potion wasn't a particularly volatile one, so he would be able to leave it unsupervised for a minute or two.

He didn't exactly expect to see Scaredy at the door, but it was no surprise either. The poor Smurf, when desperate enough, would come to him to get some medicine to block away the nightmares. It looked like that was the case this time, dark bags under the quaking Smurf's eyes.

"Hello Scaredy, would you like to smurf in?" Scaredy hesitantly nodded and crept in, smurfing several looks over his shoulder as he did.

"Y-y-yes p-please." Papa Smurf looked outside, trying to see whatever it was that had Scaredy so restless. He didn't see anything though, and had to write it off as Scaredy just being Scaredy.

"Well, what's bothering you?" Papa Smurf returned to his potion as Scaredy sat down, still shaking like a leaf.

"I-it's t-the n-n-nightmares. They k-keep s-smurfing w-worse." He tried not to sigh and closed his eyes.

"Scaredy, you can't depend on the potion to solve the problems every night." The last thing they needed was Scaredy making himself sick or getting addicted to the potions.

"I-I k-know, b-but i-it's j-just for t-tonight. I th-think th-they'll stop a-after s-smurfing t-tonight." Scaredy gave a hopeful smile. Papa Smurf doubted it, if only because the last few times hadn't stopped them or made them slow down, but if it made Scaredy feel better… The poor Smurf needed to sleep sometime.

"Very well." He stirred the experimental potion a little and then walked over to the vials of medical remedies he had. Papa Smurf passed the brew to Scaredy, smurfing down the other vials. "I wish you the best of luck then, Scaredy. Be sure to smurf to me if you have any other problems or if this doesn't solve it."

"O-okay, I w-will." Scaredy smurfed out of the house with the vile, a relieved smile on his face. Papa Smurf smurfed a small smile himself as he got back to his potion. Hopefully it would work this time.

* * *

Well, _that_ had gone smoothly.

Scaredy was a fine Smurf, but he spooked all too easily. It was like walking on eggshells, talking to him. Sassette dragged a hand down her face. No matter what she did around him or how, she ended up frightening him.

She smurfed up at the cloudy sky and wondered if she should just smurf while she was ahead. What was she doing, waiting for an unstable Imp to smurf her into insanity? Didn't she get enough excitement and thrills here? There were all sorts of adventures to go on, and it wasn't like her life was boring or dull. The village was full of all sorts of exciting people, kind people, Smurfs she would surely miss. Sassette pulled her scarf tighter. Maybe she should… just… _give up_ …

"Hello hello." Sassette quickly turned around, her heart smurfing. Speak of the devil. There, smurfing up against a tree, was Tegs, smurfing a large furred cloak and a grin. "Miss me, carrot top?"

Never mind. Tegs apparently had one Smurf of a sense of timing, warped as it was.

"Tegs!" Sassette couldn't help herself, she had to grin. Tegs' enthusiasm was still as catchy as it had been the last time she'd seen him. He looked exactly the same, sans the different cloak. From what she smurfed, he was still the same smooth-talking Imp that had gotten her snared in that deal to begin with.

"That's my name." Still as snarky too. "You ready to go, then?"

She should've said no. She should've tried to be cold and distant. After all, she'd been _tricked_ into this. She was only coming along because she would die otherwise. At least, that was how she was supposed to feel about it all and supposed to act.

Instead Sassette found herself nearly bouncing with excitement, her grin only getting bigger.

Ah well, there would really be no point in smurfing up a wall between her and someone she'd be spending the next year traveling with anyway. What fun would that be?

"Sure am." He only chuckled in reply. Sassette felt her grin slip slightly. "I was startin ta get worried."

"Well, I _could've_ been dead, sunshine. You were right to worry." Tegs grinned again. "But I didn't die, so I'm not and we can go."

As much as she wanted to, even if Sassette herself didn't know why, bolt then and there and get started as soon as possible, she knew she needed to smurf someone, anyone really, before she left.

Even last time, when she hadn't really been thinking before she left, she'd at least left a note. Sure, she'd almost smurfed herself killed on the river, but she'd still smurfed _something_ behind.

"Not just yet. I've got ta smurf goodbye." His grin didn't smurf away, though he did seem a bit bothered. Sassette could smurf why, it was still very tempting to just run. After all, she had all the supplies she needed, all the information, and all the plans she'd been smurfed.

"Alright. If you can wait for me, I suppose I can wait for you." He smurfed out a hand. "Lead the way then, doll face."

Sassette paused and her smile fell completely. Lead the way?

She _could_ smurf him the way, but over the few seasons she'd smurfed there, one of the first things she'd had to learn was not to smurf anyone to the village. From what she understood that was only smurfed to allies that Pappy had first allowed to come.

With so many close calls concerning Gargamel and their other enemies, Sassette could easily smurf why.

"Uh- Tegs, I think you'd better wait here." She could still smurf back and tell someone, then come right back here and they could go. Yeah, that could smurf.

"Why? Is your family waiting there to jump me?" The image that smurfed up, along with the way he said it, that dry way he said most things when he wasn't being smooth-talking, brought Sassette a large grin and a fit of the giggles she had to smurf down.

"No, nothin like that." A chuckle or two smurfed out. "I'm just not supposed ta lead strangers ta the village, and it's a smurf of a lot easier this way."

Tegs hemmed and hawed, but, after what felt like an hour even if it was probably just a few seconds, he did smurf his head.

"Well, it's your village. I'm sure you know what to do." Sassette started heading back, but then stopped. If he was smurfed alone here…"What's wrong?"

"Azrael." It figured. The accursed cat was causing trouble for her even when it wasn't around. Sassette hoped the fleas were especially brutal on that good for nothing _thing_ tonight.

"Who's Azrael?" Tegs' eyes narrowed slightly, but his tone stayed friendly. Sassette felt the sudden need to look around, as if Azrael would be standing right behind her when she did.

"Errr-" Maybe it _would_ be better to just smurf him to the village. "He's a cat, and she could be out huntin right now. If you're here, you could end up getting' hurt or caught…"

Tegs waved her away, his eyes no longer narrowed and a smirk on his face. He clearly wasn't worried about becoming her meal of getting smurfed by him. Cocky. Either he was very cocky or he thought she was making a mountain out of a molehill.

"I'll be fine. A mangy old cat isn't going to get the jump on me." Sassette wanted to ask what the phrase smurfed, but she shrugged it off. She had a job to smurf, and it was probably just another one of his "showbiz" terms. She wondered how many he smurfed.

 _Come on, move along._

Fine, fine, she was going.

As Sassette hiked along, snow crunching under her feet, she smurfed if it would be better to leave a note or to risk waking Papa Smurf up. After all, it was late, so he was probably asleep.

It wasn't like they would be too surprised. They'd smurfed that Tegs was coming, that she'd be leaving soon. And if she smurfed a note, she could just slip out without causing a fuss…

Note it was then.

* * *

In the darkness, a red-haired Smurfette rushed to her house from the forest and hastily scrawled out a note, leaving it where she was sure it would be found. As quietly as she could while still being fast, she hastily bolted back out to the forest, a pack on her back and a shabby, worn cloak in hand. She ended up trying to shush Puppy, who she ended up waking up when she went by, and pat him on the nose.

Now, it didn't take a genius to know what had happened or where she was going. It seemed their luck had run out.

 _It_ 'd finally come to get its end of the deal. Sassette was leaving, quite possibly to never return. And how was she telling them she was going?

By leaving a bleeding _note_.

Tracker's grip on his walking stick tightened. For all any of them, including Sassette, knew, this could be the last time she was able to smurf foot into the village, and she hadn't thought to tell anybody about it, face to face?

It did make some sense; most were asleep or had retired for the night by now, and Sassette had made it clear before that she didn't much like causing fusses, or at least not ones about her.

With the wind howling as it was, scents were far from easy to smurf out. However, Sassette had helped make dinner, and the _very_ strong smell of cinnamon clung to her like a leech. That made it much easier for him to tell where she was, even in the blustery weather.

Well, he could easily find his way back. He knew what to avoid, and he'd probably be able to sense any danger… Besides that, the Imp couldn't really be so insane as to take her now, right before what smelt like a blizzard brewing. And if it wasn't that Imp, then Sassette was leaving with a pack and a cloak for some other reason, in what was pretty much the middle of the night, which wasn't very comforting.

Checking couldn't hurt, could it? Besides, they had no idea what the Imp would _really_ do with Sassette…

In the darkness, the experienced woodsSmurf followed. Thanks to the hectic direction of the wind, though, while he was able to smurf out Sassette's scent, he missed two others that were following him.

* * *

The two of them walked in silence. It wasn't like there wasn't much to say, but Sassette was more than a little bit worried that if they talked too loudly some kind of predator would get them. They had enough enemies that it wouldn't surprise her.

All the while though, Tegs kept looking around, and she found herself doing it too. There was something off about it, she didn't know just what, but it almost felt like they were being trailed.

Sassette tried to brush it off when she couldn't find anything. She was being too paranoid, seeing things that weren't there in the shadows. It was a good thing they'd found this cave when they did,

She looked around. It was a rather small cave, but it was sheltered from the wind and snow. It looked like it would be hard for any creatures much bigger than them to enter, so it was safe that way too.

"Ready to head off to get some wood?" Tegs started walking for the exit, apparently done enjoying the break from the weather.

"What for?" Sassette straightened up.

"To start a fire." He explained, gesturing to the middle of the small cave. "I don't think you'd like to catch cold any more than I do, doll."

"It's not _that_ bad." Without the wind, it was much warmer. Though a fire sounded nice, Sassette had no doubt they could go without it and still not get sick.

"'Not that bad'… It's pretty much freezing right now, if you haven't noticed." Tegs raised an eyebrow, practically daring her to argue with him.

Challenge accepted.

"No, it's not. I figured you'd be able ta handle a little cold, expert." Again, the real problem with the recent weather had been the blasting wind. "The Smurflin's could probably smurf this just fine."

"'The'… Now hold on a minute." Tegs straightened up a bit. "So, hotshot, you're telling me that others, _everyone_ , in your village would probably find this 'not that bad'?"

"Well, not everybody…" Sassette was sure Sickly wouldn't like it, but he didn't like the cold much, and Baby was so small and so young that he probably _would_ get sick. "But, yeah, almost everyone."

It seemed like she'd said the magic word, or something like that.

"… So _that's_ why you were only wearing a scarf." Tegs relaxed, looking like he'd just solved some mindboggling puzzle. "And it's probably why you're fine with the scarf and that cloak."

"What's why?" Sassette didn't much like being in the dark.

"Sweetheart, I think the reason this doesn't feel so cold to you is because you, your _species_ , can handle it better." He was looking pretty proud of himself. "You've got some kind of resistance to the chill."

"Resistance? What?" That was silly. Then again, Tegs still had on that heavy looking fur cloak, while she _was_ fine with just a scarf in here. Maybe he was exaggerating and being melodramatic, but Sassette could now recall smurfing some of their non-Smurf friends wearing much heavier stuff than they did in the fall, when it hadn't even been that cold…

Maybe he _was_ on to something.

"And just in case I'm wrong, we're getting a fire started. I still don't need you getting ill just because you're stubborn." Tegs gave a slightly crooked grin as he went out. "Now the question is 'where would we find wood dry enough'?"

The answer was so clear that it felt like some kind of test.

"The pines that're just a small ways back; there were some saplin's and old branches underneath it that looked pretty untouched." It seemed she was right. Tegs only smiled once more and nodded.

"Right. Do you want to do the chopping or should I?" He walked outside, beckoning her out. "The other's going to keep watch in case of any predators nearby."

"I think I can keep a good eye out." Sassette would gladly do that and carry the lumber around. She wasn't too fond of the idea of chopping the saplings down; she smurfed she would only be able to hear Timber yelling at her in her head. After all, she doubted Tegs would replant the saplings he chopped down, and she had no seeds with her.

"Sounds good, carrot top." Neither said much once they left the cave, as the wind, which had gotten even harsher, would've drowned out any words. He took out his dagger when they got there and got to work hacking away at the small tree while Sassette picked up the sticks and logs that were there. Sure enough, the wood seemed relatively dry. She had a feeling they'd need to cut off the pines that still clung to it, but even then it wouldn't be too much trouble.

As soon as they entered, they both put down the wood, and Sassette watched as Tegs smurfed out a match to turn the dull piles of firewood into an active blaze.

"So, you think you're ready for this?" Tegs asked, smurfing his back to her as he walked to the entrance of the cave.

"I had a few seasons ta get ready." Sassette grinned. "Pappy was sure ta go over what supplies I'd probably need with me."

"I take it you're more prepared this time, then?" Tegs asked, his back still turned to her as he looked out.

"I think so. Should be, at least. I brought a blanket, some clothes, just in case." Sassette explained, bringing out said blanket. She laid it down on the rocky ground. Tegs turned around and stood beside her as she picked up the pack again.

"Smart. But no weapon?" Tegs noted, looking down at the pack with slightly narrowed eyes. "How do they expect you to defend yourself?"

"They?" Sassette's mind raced. No, she didn't have a weapon. Smurf it all, should she have brought one? Where would she have gotten it?

"I doubt your family would let you go off the cuff, sweet cheeks." His eyes narrowed more.

"Err-" Sassette fumbled with her pack for a few moments. "Diplomatically. At least, it was smurfed that that'd be ideal."

Tegs just stood there, smurfing like he was halfway between amused and confused.

"Really?" Finally he seemed to give into amused, a smile slowly growing on his face. "Ah… As nice as it would be for that to be it, I'm afraid it's _very_ unlikely that you'll be able to sort out much that way, doll face. What if someone, let's say they were –Hmm, let's see here– drunk, for instance, and they charged you if you offended them, accidently or not. Don't tell me you really expect to be able to talk them down or make them see sense, sunshine."

That would be nice, but she doubted it. They would be smurfing all sorts of creatures, and it would be all too easy to offend someone. Sassette had done enough of that when she'd first smurfed the village, and then they had all been the same species. Different species, with different customs and cultures? Sassette could just see herself offending someone without even having to say anything.

"Not really." She admitted, smurfing her grip on the pack a bit tighter.

"Good." Her head snapped up. "No offense, freckles, but if you know that, then you know you need another way to defend yourself. Relying on me won't work, not normally and definitely not all the time."

"I wouldn't try to- I can take care of myself!" Sassette wished she could say it with a bit more certainty. She needed to rely on anybody, she wasn't dead weight. Still, Sassette didn't smurf many ways of protecting herself beyond the bit of briefing on diplomacy Pappy had done and her own two fists. Even the last one probably wouldn't help too much against bigger creatures or ones with thick skin. Sassette sighed and let her head smurf slightly. "But what else can I smurf? I don't know _how_ ta smurf any other way."

"Yet. You don't know any other way _yet_." Tegs insisted. He pulled out the dagger from his cloak, which she was pretty sure was the same he'd smurfed out the last time they'd seen each other, and put it in her hand. He quickly whipped out another dagger that looked identical to it. "You can always learn."

"You have two daggers?" Sassette wondered just how often he needed to use both. To need two daggers… Wow. Maybe it was because she was used to a peaceful village, one where violence was rarely ever an option, but it still awed her.

"Three, actually." Tegs noticed her look. "In case I lose one or in case of situations like this."

"You want me- You mean, I can- You're lettin' me use this?" Words were dodging her again.

"That's right, sunshine. First you've got to learn _how_ to, though. We can't have you stabbing yourself by accident, now can we?"

"Here, hold it like this– No, your fingers need to wrap around the handle like this, otherwise you'll nick yourself." Tegs moved her fingers around the handle. He took a few steps back and raised one of his daggers. "Now, come at me."

"What!?" He wanted her to charge him?

"Holding a weapon won't do you any good if you can't use it, doll. Don't worry; I can easily hold my own. Come on, come at me!" Sassette had a feeling this wouldn't end well, but she wouldn't know if she didn't try. He _did_ have a point; she needed to know how to use it, just in case. Sassette tried to steel herself and then charged at him.

Tegs charged back, a wide and wild grin on his face as he did. The dagger was quickly knocked from her hand, Sassette having little time to react.

"Not half bad. You need to keep moving though, it's too easy for your opponent to take you down if you just stand still." His grin did fade, though, as his face took on a more serious look. "Also, you used your arm as a shield. Word of advice, freckles, _never_ do that. You'll only end up getting yourself hurt."

"Right, sorry." Sassette quickly filed away those bits of information, it sounded like she'd definitely need them later on. At least, if she didn't want her arm to get chopped off.

"No, no, this is good. You're learning." Tegs grinned once more. He took another few steps back and put up his dagger. "Let's try again."

And they did. Again and again, with Tegs only breaking after he'd unarmed Sassette, and even then he'd just tell her where she'd gone wrong and they'd start over again. It was surprisingly fun, in its own way, and Sassette could see why Tegs seemed to enjoy it so much. It was nothing like playing checkers with Slouchy, as it was a lot more action based, but that didn't mean it was at all bad.

They did finally bring it to an end, though, both of them bruised and scratched. It was nothing serious, though Sassette did notice, with just a _bit_ of irritation, that Tegs was far less battered than she was. To be fair, she smurfed herself, he was a lot more experienced. He apparently had decades, maybe even centuries, of know-how when it came to fighting.

Sassette, however, found herself rather determined to get better. Just because she was relatively new to this didn't excuse her being bad at it. She could improve if she tried, and she was more than willing to try.

"Not bad." Tegs "poked" at the fire, feeding it more kindling to get it back to roaring like it had been earlier. "You know, you've learned rather quickly there, for your first time."

"You think I'll get the hang of it?" Sassette asked, smurfing the dagger back to him. Tegs gently pushed it away.

"No, keep it. I'd like to say you won't need to, but that would be lying." He grinned. "I suppose I'll take watch. What kind of creatures do I need to know about, other than a mangy cat?"

"Watch?" Sassette felt her heart smurf up a bit faster. Surely that wasn't needed here; a predator wouldn't be able to get in without causing some sorta scuffle and waking them up. "Do you need ta?"

"Well, sure, you know, in case of predators or in case we happen to be chased by anyone and need to stay alert." Her eyebrows rose. " _Just_ in case. Granted, I don't think either of us'll be chased out of here, not right now. We haven't offended anybody yet."

Tegs chuckled and smurfed another grin at her. Sassette chewed her lip, wondering if this was a smart idea or if she was overstepping.

"Should I take watch, then?" Tegs raised an eyebrow. "Well, I've got ta start sometime, don't I? And this is one of the best areas ta smurf. It sounds ta me like this is gonna be a regular thin', an' I already know what ta look out for here."

He didn't respond right away. In fact, for a few moments it seemed like he wasn't going to answer at all.

"I tell you what; we're still in a 'safe' area, so we won't really need to hold any watch tonight." It looked like he was going to be staying up anyways, but Sassette couldn't comment. If that was what he was used to, then that was what he would do. Once again they were silent. Sassette fidgeted slightly and opened her mouth, not quite realizing what she was asking until she finished.

"How do you even understand what I say? The Humans and other species I've met haven't been able ta understand when I or anyone else uses tha word 'smurf'." Sassette stifled a yawn. She laid down on the blanket, and then put the cloak over herself like it was another blanket. Just to get comfortable, you know. Not that she was at all *yawn* tired, 'cause she wasn't.

"Context clues, mostly. You're not the first person I've met to use words from a language I don't know, and you probably won't be the last." Tegs shrugged, stretching. "You learn how to pick up things, though, over time. It's easy to use the words that you _do_ know to find out what message is trying to be given to you."

"Ya must've met a lot a people." Sassette smurfed herself slipping away. No, not yet! There was so much she still didn't know, so much more to do…

But it wasn't' like he'd disappear as soon as she shut her eyes. Tegs would still be there when she woke up. Sassette had time to smurf out more.

"Oh, you could say that." Sassette could just about hear the smile in his voice. Tegs seemed to smile and grin a lot. It was nice. "Good night sunshine."

Best of all, she had a whole year ahead of her to do it.

If she could live that long.

* * *

Tracker exhaled as he crouched down, hidden from sight due to the snow bank and dead bush that was there. Even his red feather was near impossible to see, and he had a feeling that even the sharpest of eyes would have a hard time finding him. Scent wise he wasn't nearly so well hidden, but so far the wind had been in his favor and Tracker doubted that the Imp's sense of smell was much good to begin with.

He'd managed to follow them to the cave, but he was at a bit of a loss as of what to do. Sassette seemed like she would be fine, Tracker had made sure to chip in and help teach her what he could about surviving in the wilderness, what to do and what to avoid. He hadn't been the only one, and she'd asked plenty of questions to everyone she could and smurfed plenty of answers. On that aspect, it seemed she'd be fine. The wild card that was the Imp, on the other hand…

Tracker had at one point heard what sounded like clashing metal from inside, like fighting. If it hadn't been mixed with both of them laughing, he would've smurfed in then and there. As it was though, there had been laughing, and he easily recognized Sassette's laugh, which meant everything was alright so far _and_ that the Imp was armed.

Good with the bad, have to take the good with bad.

Tracker crouched down even lower as said Imp walked out of the cave, holding a torch in one of his green hands.

"Alright blue boy, what do you want?" He froze, his quiet breathing ceasing immediately. It couldn't- How had it-? "Better come out now, while I'm in a good mood."

Tracker slowly stepped out from behind his cover, stopping once he was fully in the being's line of sight.

"You thought I wouldn't notice someone tracking us? Especially since you've been at it since we left your little neck of the woods? My, you _are_ far from home, aren't you?" It leaned up against the large rock that was behind it. "A mindless animal might not've taken note, but I'm no mindless animal. My lovely companion detected you too, even if she doesn't know yet just what's been following us."

Tracker kept his mouth shut, not willing to play the Imp's "game". He'd seen it, as well as Sassette, keeping an eye out while he'd followed them, but he'd had some hope they were just being cautious and hadn't seen him.

"I can respect a chap with a sense of adventure." The Imp brought out two daggers, one in each hand, and grinned twistedly with those pointed teeth. "So let me give you a friendly suggestion, one adventurer to another: _Run_."

Tracker glared at it, but turned to move anyway. It wouldn't be smart to risk irritating them any more than he already had, especially not when it was going to be with Sassette for the next year. For all he knew, it might've even already known where the village was. Before he could even take a step, though, the wind picked up once more, changing directions as it did, and Tracker was pretty much slammed with two more scents. They were familiar, unlike the Imp's, and one of them was also _drenched_ in cinnamon, just like Sassette's was. In any other situation, it may have been comforting, but now?

"Oh, and I give the same advice to your more lily-livered friends." Tracker mentally swore. _Smurf it_. Why had they- No, no, he knew why. He could just hope they would also smurf what he did and clear off. It wouldn't end well, to smurf up against an armed Imp with no weapon of their own. Even if either of them did have a weapon, none of them had any experience. Tracker himself was the closest in regards to being able to fight, and even then he only used his walking stick at all violently for defense. "Nothing to say? No rebuttal? No attack? Am I glad freckles is more interesting than you lot."

It felt like the Imp had just finished setting up a trap and the smarmy bugger knew it. Freckles… There really was only one person who that could smurf. Even if they did leave, that didn't change the fact that Sassette would still be stuck with this… Creature. An armed, wicked, conniving creature, no less.

Granted, it sounded like it was at least more "interested" in her alive and well than it was smurfing to harm her.

"Three… Two…" Tracker's mind started when the Imp started counting down. He didn't have a doubt in his mind what would happen when they got to zero. "One…"

Tracker was already bolting to the village by the time the Imp stopped. He only hoped he could smurf the same of his two brothers.

"Run, run, run and hide…" The Imp's voice faded with every step he took, but that didn't smurf Tracker didn't know how close that had been. Too close.

They were pretty much leaving Sassette alone with a maniac. Brilliant. _That_ wasn't going to smurf back to bite them.

* * *

Sassette's eyes blearily opened to see someone standing in front of her, holding something sharp and pointy, the fire nothing more than some warm embers.

 _Frightenin frogs!_

Maaaaaybe, just maybe, she was a little paranoid, a little too hyped up, with all those thoughts of so many threats bouncing around in her head. Maybe she'd gone and let too many possibilities run amuck, she'd been looking forward to this for a long while. Maybe she just had tactics and defense on the brain.

Whatever the reason, her hand shot out to the – _her_ – dagger, which she remembered she had laid down not too far away from her before she slipped off into sleep, and she jumped up.

Sassette, with, honestly, a half-awake mind, charged and tried to get the figure. Who were they? What were they? What in the world where they doing there?

It was only when they fought back, quickly shoving her away and stopping her attack with two daggers of their own, did she realize that it was Tegs.

Woops.

"On one hand, sweetheart, I'm glad to see you've got your guard up." Tegs threw the last of the kindling into the fire. It wasn't much, but the thing did kick back up again into a small little glow, which made it much easier to see than the slightly glowing cinders had. "On the other, what were you thinking?"

"Well, I thought that maybe there was somebody else here, an' I just sorta-" Tegs gave a frustrated snort and cut her off.

"Not that! Like I said, it's good to have your guard up." He gave a twisted grin, looking like he was thinking about something. Whatever it was, she didn't know. "No, I mean 'what we're you thinking' about trying to use your arm as a shield again? If it weren't me, sunshine, and actually was someone else, you could have a serious wound or a mangled arm."

Sassette quickly opened her mouth, wanting to point out that if he had just said something she wouldn't have attacked him in the first place. She slowly closed it, though, when she realized just what she'd been about to argue over. He wasn't upset that she had attacked him; _he was upset about how she'd done it_. '

"Sorry chief, I'll try not ta make sloppily attackin people who stand around all mysteriously a habit."

 _Bite your tongue. Your sassing people out is going to get you killed._

Sassette had had a similar problem back in the village, at least once she'd gotten settled in and was convinced they really did think of her as family. No, there wasn't any worry about getting killed, not in the peaceful village, of course not. It was more that she ended up annoying or offending multiple Smurfs, usually to the point where they weren't very happy to see her. She was getting better, but sometimes…

Thankfully, miraculously, Tegs didn't smurf the least bit offended.

"Smart move, doll." He chuckled slightly. "I'd hate to have somebody I was traveling with die just because they didn't pay attention?"

"How would you like for me ta die, then?" There needed to be some kind of filter from her brain to her mouth. His humor was going to run out at this rate, and Sassette would rather not chance it.

Still, it was hard, the way he practically just painted target signs on his back for her. Besides, she was tired, there was going to be tons of exploring and traveling tomorrow, maybe she could risk being just a bit cranky?

Tegs seemed to think so, at least.

"Fighting to your last and having a good time of it all, probably up against at least several other people." He smirked and sat down beside her, wrapping his cloak around himself as he watched the fire.

Sassette smiled and mentally sighed in relief. Who was she to argue?

The two of them stayed silent for a while, just watching the fire slowly take over and break down the wood, until all that was left was smoking ash.

Tegs, however, broke the silence when he suddenly got up. He looked outside their little cave as he spoke.

"It's a good thing you're up, now we can get going." Her head snapped up. "The snow's stopped, and the winds also more or less disappeared. If we take advantage of that now, we can go on without much trouble."

"It's supposed ta get worse soon." Sassette would not forget Tracker's prediction. Even if it seemed clam now, she knew it wouldn't stay that way. She had a strange feel Tegs did too.

"Sure, but we can stop then. It won't hurt to cover ground now." He brought out a long, detailed map. What wasn't he hiding under his cloak? "Speaking of which, we talked about last time we spoke, didn't we? We've been headed in this direction, but if you want to go elsewhere we can do that too. It's not too far from several other interesting areas."

"What about bein hunted? There are plenty of animals that might just be desperate enough to try ta smurf an' get us for a snack." Sassette covered her mouth as she stretched and yawned. She would be glad to get moving, but she knew that it'd be far too suicidal of them to just tempt all the hungry predators looking for something to eat.

"Like I said earlier, some mangy old animal isn't going to get the jump on me. It won't get the jump on you either, so long as you stay alert."

"Bit cocky ain't we?" Sassette teased, haphazardly putting the blanket back into the pack. She planned on carrying the dagger in her hand, nowhere near as sure about their safety as Tegs was. And, despite how confident he sounded, she didn't miss the way his hand strayed back into his cloak, at where she was sure he kept those daggers.

"I said we were going to be good, not easy to catch." She was given a challenging look. Tegs crossed his arms across his chest. "Besides that, I can back up my claim. The question is, can you? Some of those hunters would just love to catch you."

"Sure I can." He raised an eyebrow, but Sassette just held her gaze and also crossed her arms across her chest. She wasn't going to be cowed out of this. "If a critter ain't goin' ta get you, it certainly ain't gonna get me."

 _Stupid, stupid, you shouldn't talk when you're tired, you shouldn't even act, what do you think you're doin'?_

"So, even though you could barely handle an Imp whose fighting style you were already familiar with, one who most likely had no intention on hurting you, sweetheart, you think you can handle wild animals, ones that can and probably _will_ attack with no pause?" It wasn't said mockingly nor was it said condescendingly, which she would have expected. His voice wasn't sharp or cold, it was almost light hearted, and it sounded like he was more teasing her than anything. Tegs really was a mystery to Sassette. It wasn't as if he took nothing seriously, because he'd shown to her several times that he could and did, but it wasn't as if he was too somber a fella either, joking with her and smiling when she expected to be scolded or ignored. "You're on, sunshine. Lets' see what you can really do."

A mystery was _not_ a bad thing.

Sassette gave a grin to mirror his and swung the bag onto her back as she tightened her cloak and scarf.

Speaking of mysteries, the tracks just outside the cave were more than odd. It'd looked like something large had been through, a good deal of the snow upturned, but the imprint was very light, as if whatever it was hadn't actually stood there. Sassette paused as she puzzled over them.

"A few birds landed there. If they'd stayed around much longer they most likely would've woken you up, but a good gust of wind, and probably some common sense 'gifted' by yours truly, chased them off." Tegs smurfed, noticing her looking down. So he'd chased off some birds, and that was what had happened?

It didn't make any sense, but Tegs seemed to know what he was talking about, so she brushed it off for now. She'd have to trust him when it came to this. Maybe the wind had messed up the tracks to make them look that way, because, while it was definitely dying, it still puffed about little flurries in the meantime. Sassette tried to put it out of her mind as they went on in the darkness.

The worst so far were some tracks in the snow that looked slightly off. Not bad, really, seeing as how it could've been much worse.

* * *

 **Approximately 285 KM away**

A black haired, grey skinned Smurfette of sorts –Father had renamed and then publicly labeled them "Naughties", to appeal to both of their audiences– wiped her brow as she returned to Father's "chambers". It was more a glorified and closed off part of their traveling wagon than chambers of any sort, but he insisted on calling it that.

And if she wished for her or her brother to get any dinner tonight, she would call it that as well.

It was getting harder to "entertain" their customers, and she needed to have something.

"Father…?" She looked around cautiously. The stench of alcohol was thick and putrid, stronger than it had been earlier.

Sure enough, lounging in a chair, feet up on the table, Father was there with a bottle of liquor in one hand and a glass in the other. He spoke up, softly, almost as if he wasn't talking to anyone but himself.

She knew better.

"What am I?" When she didn't answer immediately, his voice boomed down at her. "Well?!"

"A- A god." No, don't stutter, if you stutter he won't let you be. "A god, Father."

"A god surrounded by _pathetic_ mortals." This was not the first time they'd had this conversation. It was almost as if she was rehearsing from a worn script. "I have created life, and yet I am still thought of as below the _worthless_ mortal that has the crown."

"They-" She swallowed uneasily. No, no faltering, you must be perfect. "They have no idea you have created life, Father. They think you have only found it."

"So I am forced to hide my talents, my god-like abilities, merely because of the insecurity of wretched mortals." He spat angrily, hand clenching the bottle tighter. "The only ones who know of my true worth are small, simpleminded creatures. Some life for a _god_."

Father laughed, but there was no humor or happiness in it or in his voice. It was too late to go back, but maybe he would go back to his drink and forget about her…

"Why do you bother me, you miserable cretin?" Or maybe not. The raven tried to fight the urge to step back as he glared down at her.

"Father, it's time to eat." Not that he would join them, if they even were allowed to eat at all. Father would undoubtedly try to drown himself yet again in alcohol.

Her head started to pound as the prickles of pain in her stomach got even sharper. She'd already been kept from eating last night, but one more without and she had no doubt she would collapse. Hackus, bless his senseless soul, would be fine for now, as he'd been allowed to eat last night. She'd made sure of that.

It was only that Father was too cheap to buy more clay and supplies that assured her that he wouldn't let both of them starve. Hadn't he just been going on the other day about how it was so rare and how he wouldn't be able to get anymore even if he willing to pay? Maybe she and her brother would, with any luck, be fine.

So, he wouldn't let her die. He couldn't. She was one of his most desired "attractions", even if she did have grey skin that interested few. She was sure to lure them in with other ways, and Father wouldn't be able to risk losing her without having to find more of that special clay. There might not even have been any left, not in this region of the world or any other.

She had no idea if he'd realize that in his drunken stupor, though. What if he did, but was just too far gone to care? She wouldn't put it past him. If he didn't, or worse yet, _did_ , figure it out and kept it from her yet again…

He needed to remember. Her life depended on Father piecing that together.

* * *

 **Hello, all you wonderfully lovely people! Did you miss me?**

 **Don't ask, death is cheap. Besides, I know I guy. By the way, you there, the reader with the dynamite? Good try, but better luck next time. I suggest ten more tons of the stuff, that might work.**

 **Also, yes, my lousy head canon oozing in is lousy. Still, I hope it makes some sense… Kinda, sorta, maybe?**

 **Yes, welcome two more canon characters (sorta) for me to butcher needlessly: Vexy and Hackus. Aren't you excited? As for Vexy's job… I need to be vague for the sake of keeping the rating down where it is. You all have horrendously filthy minds, _you_ piece it together. You've never hesitated before.**

 **On that lovely note, see you next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 **Heads up: The time passing between some of these scenes can be anywhere from a few days to weeks at a time. Just to clarify, that means that by the end of this chapter, whole seasons will have passed.**

The two of them walked into the tavern, which was strangely enough called "Bats' and Sons'", this one much brighter than the one they had been in all those months ago.

Her cloak hood was up, even though Tegs had his down. He'd told her, in one of those dangerously serious tones that she was sure meant bad news, to keep hers up no matter what. She didn't really understand why, but he was the expert.

In theory. Maybe. He was supposed to be. Heh. Ha-Ha. Sassette couldn't keep her snickering down or in.

"Oh? And what's so funny?" Sassette didn't answer and only kept chuckling. Tegs, even though they'd been travelling for days, was still a riddle- Granted, a good one. Considering certain alternatives, which seemed to be looking worse by the day, a very good one.

A tired server came by, a pixie with pinned up purple hair, looking like they were one step away from falling asleep. Tegs took one look at her and grinned.

"We'll take two of whatever your soup is today." The waitress gave a bored nod and left.

Sassette looked around, admiring the woodwork. It was a nice earth shade, making the place seam cozy but not muted. Every time she visited a new building, or saw one, it was always in some different style, made out of some different material. Some were made of stone, others of clay, and then there were the ones that were made out of wood like this. One crazy place had been nothing but vines, but the earth spirit living there hadn't been too friendly.

She was torn from her staring as the waitress came back, holding two bowls of some kind of soup.

"Here you go." The pixie dropped them onto the table and stepped back, her eyes half-lidded.

How could you work at one of these places and ever get _bored_?

The two of them ate in silence, the hot soup taking up most of their attention. It didn't taste great, Sassette could easily list twenty or more dishes that she and Greedy, mostly Greedy, could smurf that were better off the top of her head, but at least it was _hot_.

Sassette looked back up, not seeing any sign of the Pixie. Didn't things around here work with money?

"She'll probably be back for the pay later." He said under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear him.

"Now, about those clay deposits…" They'd been talking about them earlier before having to get away from some hawks. "You're saying that _any_ magic user could find and use them if they knew how?"

"That's tha idea, least accordin ta Pappy." He'd made it clear, though, how at best that was a _theory_. Gargamel had gone and destroyed the only local source of the clay, maybe the only one in the world, so there was no way to know for sure if that was only true for that bit of clay or not. They had no idea if there was even any more of the clay out there to begin with.

He hadn't been too happy about not being able to smurf even a sample of the clay.

Tegs grinned, his eyes lighting up.

"I'll admit, I haven't heard of or seen any of these pits before, not that I would know one if I was looking straight at it, but it shouldn't take much more than just a quick-…" He trailed off slowly, leisurely going back to his soup. Sassette's head whirled around, confused to no end by his sudden stop.

Sure enough, just like Tegs had said she would, the waitress had smurfed back.

Tegs held out two small, dull coins.

"This'll pay for two bowls of-" Tegs looked down quickly at his bowl. "'Mouse Meat Soup', right?"

Despite how tricky and devious she'd heard him claim to be, had seen him be with her own eyes, Tegs wasn't exactly subtle with his eyeing the poor purple haired woman.

"Right." The Pixie rolled her eyes but accepted the money anyway. The words quickly hit Sassette as her mind finally thawed from the chill outside.

"'Meat'?" Her body froze for a second as her eyes darted back up to Tegs.

"There a problem with that?" He asked, _his_ eyes not leaving the back of the server as she walked away. Ooh boy... Sassette rolled her eyes and kicked him under the table, but went back to eating. She'd found that while Tegs was as tricky, conniving, and sneaky as he'd first seemed, he could also be an idiot.

It probably wasn't anyone she knew in the bowl.

Ergh. Bad joke, not a good choice of words.

Sassette shook her head slightly. For meat, it really wasn't bad. She hadn't had any before, but she'd always guessed that it'd tasted bad or wasn't all that good compared to other foods.

She finished the meal and pushed the bowl aside.

Maybe they could smurf some of these at the village- Sassette winced and stopped that train of thought right there. Right, _no_ , that wasn't going to happen. Poor Nat's reaction alone would probably be enough to put any of that to a stop.

Besides, they had enough food around normally that there really was no reason for them to turn to meat.

* * *

Sassette had never realized just how lucky she was back in the village. It was one thing to know she had it better off than some other people might've, but it was another thing to experience life outside of it.

It was definitely different.

"Tegs!" Sassette sped up, feet pounding against the smooth rocks as the snow kept falling, trying to catch up to the crook. He was dodging her on purpose, but she wasn't going to go and let that stop her. "Slitherin snakes, are ya out of your mind?"

"What was I supposed to do? To be frank hotshot, they probably won't die without this. Humans are amazingly hardy like that. Us, on the other hand? We _will_ , and that would kinda put a bit of a damper on traveling." He jumped up onto one of the many rocky ledges nearby. "Look, this, combined with a mouse or a squirrel should we catch one, will have us set for the rest of the week, maybe even longer."

"Fine." The stubborn pain in the- She wasn't going to bother. Sassette felt the aches and blows finally catching up with her, the thrill of the chase winding down.

"What, no squabbling?" Tegs asked, his lips pulled back into a snarl. Sassette had to shove away the image of pushing the arrogant Imp off of the ledge and letting him tumble into the soft snow below.

"You're the expert here, aren't ya? Who else am I gonna listen ta?" Then again, he was asking for it. He wanted squabbling? He would _get_ it. "But… couldn't we just as easily get some food from someplace nearby? It ain't like we've got _no_ money."

"What's the point in wasting our money, which we still don't have much of, on things like food when we can get them for free?" Tegs turned away and jumped onto another ledge. The crisp snow started coming down faster, making it harder to see. "I get what you're saying. But it's more interesting to do it this way, _and_ it's cheaper. The reason we went to Bats' Tavern was because their food is always cheaper than dirt and there were no good sources of food, like those humans, around."

Sassette bit the inside of her cheek. Part of her wanted to argue, but at the same time, it would slow them down and it was really just some food.

Her stomach was killing her, almost feeling like it was trying to eat itself, and she would bet that Tegs' was too, even if he tried to brush it off. There hadn't been a source of safe water that they could drink from either, so their throats weren't doing too well.

 _Don't steal; stealin is bad, you shouldn't steal…_

 _But what harm could just a bit of food do? The humans have enough already, surely they won't notice a bit goin missin. Tegs and you have been walkin for days, while they just sit around this village. You've earned it._

 _You don't know that! This family could've earned this food, and even if they didn't, it's still theirs._

 _For all we know, they just stole it from somebody else. They are humans after all. All's fair and all that junk._

It was too late anyway; Sassette had made her mind up. The sharp pains in her stomach didn't help. So what if her conscience felt a little heavier? They _had_ earned this.

Sorta.

* * *

Alright, so for all the awful things Tegs was and had done, even if someone just counted the stuff he admitted to doing, Sassette had to give him some credit; he could be right sometimes. More like once in a blue moon, but he could be right. Tegs hadn't been lying when he'd said that she'd enjoy hunting.

 _(She didn't think she could find him crazier than she had when he'd said that, as if it was the easiest and most common thing in the world. His reasoning hadn't helped any either. So she could cook, what did that have to do with hunting innocent animals?)_

They'd started out by making traps early in the morning, traps of all shapes and sizes, some just made of rope and others with wooden spikes, when it had seemed like Tegs was full of it. Making the traps sounded fun enough, sure, but when she'd heard that the plan after that was basically to wait for hours on end with nothing happening?

"Why waste tha time huntin if we coulda spent it walkin? Since you're so big on time." She knew she could get away with a jab like that; she was safe and sound out of arm's reach where she was sitting. He'd let her try to cook the meat on the fire tonight, and had given her some space.

 _(He'd started prodding after that, though, so she took the lesser of two evils. This way they were less likely to go hungry, and the other way… Well, Sassette had no idea how much she could smurf to him without giving things away- Pappy had insisted on her keeping Tegs in the dark as much as she could.)_

"I don't honestly care much for schedules, freckles, believe it or not. Besides, it only took so long this time because you're so new to this. After this it should get easier for you and we'll be able to get it done faster." Sassette turned the meat over as she listened to him. The way he rushed them through some areas, she'd have sworn he was on some sort of schedule.

"How in tha world will doing it more make things like _waitin_ go faster?"

"Fair point. At the very least you'll grow used to it, then." He chuckled as he leaned back, closing his eyes. Sassette had no doubt that he was just waiting to strike. How she didn't know, but she was sure it was for some more fighting practice. They hadn't done it in a while, and Tegs probably thought she'd been fooled. Hah. Well, might as well play along.

 _(Oh, but she hadn't really smurfed that very well, had she? While she'd made sure he didn't know the location of the village, sometimes it seemed like she'd told him just about everything else. He knew a lot more about her than he was supposed to, knew a good deal about the other Smurfs in the village that he ever should've. "Whoops" just didn't cover it.)_

Just like she thought, he sprang to life a few moments later. Her hand shot out and her dagger blocked his, much to his glee. Nutty Imp.

Self-defense. They would be glad to know that she was smurfing more ways to protect herself. They went up against so many enemies sometimes that really this could be nothing _but_ a gain for them.

"You can use it at your village too, if you've really been having all that trouble." Tegs put his own two daggers away.

 _(By now Tegs not only knew she was made from clay, which she'd more or less had to tell him, but that her older sister was also made of clay, that her creators were three Smurflings, even that she used to- He had smurfed and knew way too much. Not like she could smurf much about it now.)_

Sassette grinned as she looked down at the dagger, suddenly very aware of what else it could do and how many other ways she could use it.

If she could defend herself from Azrael, for example, this way, then she wouldn't have to worry about getting cornered by that mangy cat again.

"Yeah, I can see that." He only smirked in response, lying back down.

Yup, definitely growing to like the dagger.

* * *

The next time they entered another tavern, a few weeks after they'd started traveling, Sassette was hit again by just how diverse they could be. This one was made of a mix of huge glossy blocks of red clay and some sort of trailing plants, making it look like a snake's head on the outside.

And, very much like the tavern they'd been in almost a year ago, it was dark and crowded. Unlike last time, though, this one also had thick smoke all over. Everyone inside was either talking quietly while looking around, staying silent altogether while nursing some kind of drink, or they were yelling at the top of their lungs trying to be louder than the other people yelling at the top of their lungs. There seemed to be no more than two of the same species, and she didn't recognize even half of them. Some floated, others walked, most sat and played or talked. It was bursting to the brim with noise and life, even if it should've been a gloomy and dull place.

Sassette already loved it.

When they left, it was "mysteriously" down one regular patron, and she hated it.

* * *

"Sweetheart, that was the only thing you could've done. You tried knocking him out and it didn't work. He wasn't getting the message, he could've killed you. Don't worry about it, you're alive and he can't hurt you." Her head was swimming. She felt sick, her throat tight and her stomach rolling. Sassette wasn't sure if this was even real; she hoped it had all just been a nightmare.

"Tegs…" His head swung over from facing the fire to facing her. "You've– Before–- I mean… You've done it before, haven't ya?"

It felt like such a stupid question to ask. He was an Imp that carried around two daggers with him at all times, and before the winter, possibly even three, of course he had.

"Yes, I have. I've gotten people trying to cheat me, trying to kill me, people who have tried to trap me. I've had things go wrong after trying to 'persuade' people myself. And I've tried to cheat other people, kill 'em, trap 'em. You did the right thing, doll." Hah. Like she'd believe that. "Now, come on. We've got to get that clean."

"Clean it?" She looked it over uneasily. It didn't look like it' be hard to do, but to have to get off all of that…

"You don't want a rusty blade, do you? Trust me, if you thought fighting was hard now, with it in good condition…" Tegs trailed off, voice slightly rougher. "Well, you'd better get to it now. You remember how, right?"

"I'm not stupid." Sassette tried to sound cross, she could easily remember something she'd been taught only a few days ago, but to her ears the sentence just smurfed out as dead and tired. She walked off to clean the dagger, mind rumbling.

When she came back, there fire was roaring with life and Tegs was already sitting next to it on one of the many rocks.

"I just- ergh!" She quickly scratched her head with both her hands, dazed and confused and, more than anything else, mad. Mad at herself for it happening, mad at herself for not being able to just get over it like Tegs could, mad for there being nothing else to do, mad at the idiot who'd- _Really_ mad at herself for not stopping that idiot some other way.

"No. Now, you _listen_ here hotshot, I'm done repeating myself. Stop dwelling on it like this, it won't change a thing." She stared at him, her mouth slightly open. Tegs sighed and his shoulders slumped slightly. "Why beat yourself up over spilt milk? What's done is done, and, honestly, he deserved it. Let's look at the bright side here. You have a good aim, sweetheart, I'm glad the practice is paying off."

"How can you- I-" Sassette didn't know what she could say to that. She'd- Smurf, even thinking about it made her shudder.

"Because I've done worse, far worse. Something like this is something I could honestly breathe easy about without any trouble. If I were to beat myself up about it as you do, bluebell, I'd never be able to live. Every step would be sheer agony, me constantly beating myself up for things that are said and done. As I keep telling you, you were in the right. I haven't always been, far from it, and I have a feeling that that will remain the case in the future." She drew herself up, ready to argue. He held up a hand, his face and body all unusually rigid. "Please, there's nothing worse than seeing you so down on something like this. If you need to place blame, place it on me. I've taught you how to use it, and I'm the one calling it nothing. There, problem solved."

"I s-shouldn't have. There was some other way, t-there had ta be, I should have seen it." Sassette tugged on her braid but tried to calm down. Tegs was taking it awfully well, perhaps- No. He was an Imp, maybe it meant less to them or they saw it differently. _He_ seemed to. But she was a Smurf, maybe not the perfect one or anything but _still_ , she was supposed to be peaceful and stray as far from violence as she could. At least, dangerous violence, the kind that could get someone with more than just a sprain or a bruise. Dangerous violence had gotten her here, and what was she? A butcher. If any of them knew-

Her stomach rolled again. No, it was hundreds of times worse to think of that. It was bad enough that it had happened, but just the thought of any of them knowing what she had done, what they would think of her then- Sassette had no idea how they would take it, or how Tegs could even bear to look at her right now.

"I meant it, to see you down like that is unnerving, at best." Then again, Imp. His ways were different.

 _No one back at the village has to know. Tegs wouldn't spread this around, even if he did who'd listen to him, and if no one were to know, they wouldn't be able to look at you any differently, would they?_

Sassette tried to squash the treacherous little voice where it was. She'd already done so much wrong that that was near the last straw.

 _Exactly, so much has already gone wrong. What's wrong with this, it's so darn small in comparison, all it needs is that you don't tell. It'll be so simple, so easy._

Easy sounded good. Easy was nice.

"A-alright Tegs." The answer and her wobbly smile seemed to work, as he all but collapsed, his body relaxing almost immediately and his eyes gaining back some of their light.

"I can't hear you, better speak up." He had one of those sharp smiles on. Sassette tried to copy it. What was done was done.

 _Even if it never should have happened, why had she ever even-_

"Aye-aye, chief." Tegs smurfed himself a nod, a smug smile on his face.

"Don't worry yourself about it again." Her eyes narrowed and he narrowed his, but he corrected himself. " _Try_ not to worry about it again, doll."

"I-I'll try." She forced that smile to stay on her face, and she kept it until she fell asleep in front of the fire.

That was when the nightmares began, and one of the first things to go was the phony smile.

* * *

 _Her hood had fallen off due to the strong wind blasting into the tavern, but she didn't take any real notice of it until it was too late._

 _"Freckles- Your hood. Now!" Tegs hissed from across the table, his grin frozen and his eyes narrowed. The map was being clenched in his hand, still in midair where Tegs had been holding it up. Even with the warning she didn't react fast enough; mere seconds later, a large hulking being stood in front of their table. He looked like some kind of lizard, weird scales and spikes running along his skin, but Sassette couldn't be sure. She could remember seeing someone like him before, but that has been at a different town, and at a distance. The only thing that she could be sure about was that he'd had too much to drink._

 _He stumbled, his eyes looking like they were glazed. Tegs' hand slowly moved to Sassette's, giving hers a firm pinch, and then the two were out the door. Unfortunately, as smashed as their "friend" seemed, he was shockingly speedy when he reacted. Sassette and Tegs found themselves cornered against a wall, though Tegs had both of his draggers drawn. Sassette smurfed a bottle that was on the floor and had broken it over his head, but that didn't seem to faze him. The drunk had lunged, only to be blocked by Tegs._

 _While he was distracted, she took advantage and stabbed the dagger straight into his middle._

 _She hadn't known that, for his species, which turned out to be some sort of Minor Kappa/Serpent hybrid, that that was where a few vital organs happened to be._

 _Smurf it all, if only she'd known… She never would've- Never._

"Shh, shh, easy bluebell, easy." His arms were around her, hand running through her hair. "We're safe; you have nothing to worry about. Nothing."

"He was j-just a drunk, and I- I-" Sassette couldn't finish the sentence- as much as she wished she could hold herself together better, be stronger than this, the sobs she couldn't hold back made it hard to talk.

"Relax...Relax...Relax… He was a _dangerous_ drunk, one that would've killed you without a second thought." He gently patted her on the back. "Rest your sweet little head."

"You're strange." She eventually managed to smurf out. That was the only way to put it.

"To you, to others, to everyone." Tegs shrugged. "You got anything _new_ to tell me?"

"Strange *Yawn* strange isn't a bad thing." It wasn't. Just what kind of strange, though… Well, even that could be good sometimes. "I'm strange too. I prefer my overalls ta a dress, like jumpin in tha mud rather than puttin on makeup, and I want to see tha world with a crazy Imp."

"How? I can't imagine you being less than the crown jewel of your village, little as it may be." He was putting on thicker lies now. Even Sassette could smurf right through that one. "You went out to help, didn't you? From what I've seen, you're also a far more interesting type than the others."

"Flatterer." Sassette managed to yawn out. "I didn't leave ta get help. Helping's a bonus."

"You didn't." His voice sounded softer, as if it were drifting away. She almost didn't hear it. Even then, though, she knew it wasn't really a question; it was more like he was stating a fact.

"No, I-I left ta run." Her eyes slid shut. If _only_ she was as decent as he was making her out to be, hah. "I just found a good excuse ta and ran with it."

It was because of luck that she'd managed to be found by an Imp and that she could interest him enough to be helped. It was just luck that Sassette had an alibi as she abandoned her home.

"You aren't the only one to have run before." That didn't make it any better. She'd deserted her home, and now she was trying to ditch her "morals". Great. "Shh, relax." Easy for him to say. Tegs' voice was now a whisper, barely registered by her sleepy mind. "We're a strange pair, aren't we? But like you said, doll, strange isn't always a bad thing. We can make it work, you'll see."

She'd hold him to that.

* * *

She was in a far better mood now, even if you wouldn't expect for someone to be that way when they were up in a tree.

Sassette looked around, eyes squinting as she kept an eye out for whatever could be lurking in the dark. Her head snapped around as she heard a far off shriek- maybe. Was that just the wind? She didn't know, couldn't tell. There could be predators of all kind on the prowl, and she unfortunately counted as prey.

So maybe she could defend herself, maybe she couldn't. Did she really want to find out? Not really, not now, and definitely not up against something big that could fly like a hawk or an owl.

It'd been a few nights since "then", and it was her turn to keep watch. They were now, officially, out of the "safe territories", if they had ever been in them to begin with, and that meant they needed someone to be on watch. Who needed sleep these days, anyhow?

It wasn't like her dreams had been too pleasant lately.

She tried her hardest not to make any sound as she moved, very aware of how she was probably being watched herself by Tegs. Oh, he looked asleep, but that didn't mean he was. This all felt like one big test, probably was, and her mind was just a bit more worried about the Imp below her than the creatures that probably weren't even there.

The fire was out and the wind whipped around, often making the trees branches shake and sway. But it was alright, even fun, to her to work on staying in her position. Sometimes she's even had to jump from one branch to another. At least it kept her awake and on her toes.

The wind swelled as it howled even louder, causing the entire area to vibrate. She may as well have been in a tornado. Sassette clutched the branch even tighter, her knuckled going pale as they numbed. She could almost feel the gnarled and rotted wood of the tree give beneath her grip and the grip of the wind, could hear it creaking as it tried to hold its ground.

The wind- started slowing down? Really? Odd.

Sassette steadied herself as the branch stopped flying about. She looked up at the sky, which was mostly cloudy, and then down below, which was white and covered in snow. Even the snowfall seemed to be slowing up. It all looked very nice.

Even while she kept watching the ground –and the sky, because she knew by now that sometimes those bigger birds, as well as the smaller ones, could just be deadly– her mind started to wander. Sassette started thinking about things, some she really didn't want to think about. Her thoughts roamed to the village for a moment, but she smurfed that down quick. There was one subject that she could latch onto with no problem while still staying vigilant, though; Christmas was creeping closer, and there was a certain person who she still needed to get a gift for. Hmm, what to do, what to do…

* * *

Smurfette was looking up at the white wintery night sky, her scarf, a gift from Tailor, waving wildly thanks to the blustery weather. She didn't look away as she was joined by Hefty, who was also wearing a scarf.

"It's cold out here." It was, freezing really. The wind screamed and shrieked all around as the snow came down in thick, heavy blankets that made it hard to see. "Are you sure you don't want to smurf in?"

"I'll come in in a minute." She smiled at him. While it was nice of him to join her, she just wanted a minute or two alone.

He shifted slightly, his brow knit.

"Worrying about her won't change or smurf anything, you know. We all worry anyway." She only turned her head back up at the sky. "Smurfette?"

"Merry Christmas, Hefty."

"Merry Christmas, Smurfette." He sighed and walked back inside.

Hefty was right, she was worrying too much. Her little -Almost a year later and Smurfette still couldn't believe it, how had she ever gotten so lucky- sister was probably fine.

She'd never had a little sister before, always had been the new one in the village who didn't smurf things. Not that anyone was mean to her because of it, no, but there was always just so much she never seemed to know compared to everyone else.

Then Sassette had come, and she wasn't alone anymore. That was alright, Smurfette didn't expect them to be exactly the same. It would've been nice, sure, but at least she had Vanity to appreciate and try out different styles of fashion with. He _was_ her best friend, after all, and his claims to be an expert at style weren't empty. There was one thing, though, that Smurfette's little sister could smurf that Vanity never could.

Sassette… Sassette knew what it smurfed to be a Smurfette, a Smurfette in a village full of Smurfs. For once, _Smurfette_ was the one helping someone through, not the one being helped. It was one thing when the Smurflings became, well, Smurflings. She was someone they spoke to often. But Sassette was a full grown adult, just like she had been.

You were expected to help kids along, teach them the right lessons and morals, keep them from danger, it was all common courtesy. Not that she didn't like the Smurflings or enjoyed helping them, she did. It was just that in Sassette, Smurfette could and did see herself. She'd never been a smurfling herself, thanks to being an adult from the start, but she _had_ been the new Smurfette who was so new to everything, just like Sassette was. She didn't have to help her, Sassette was a grown adult, but she wanted to. She wanted to make sure Sassette never made the mistakes she did.

And then that Imp took her away. It was more than scary, not knowing if the tomboy was alright or even alive.

Whatever it was that had kept them from being able to transport right to Sassette the last time Sassette was with him also kept them from being able to magically smurf what was happening to them. According to Papa Smurf, those spells were incredibly hard to smurf to begin with, even across short distances, so they'd more or less had to leave it at that.

Smurfette knew he was busy, and it did make sense. Why would the Imp hurt Sassette after smurfing so hard to get them to travel? To do that, he'd need her alive.

Of course, you could always hurt someone without smurfing them off.

Sassette would be back before next Christmas. Smurfette shook her head. Worrying too much again. It was nice and warm inside the mushroom, with everyone singing or laughing. Yes, it would've been nice to have a certain somebody there too, but there was nothing she could smurf about it now. The best thing to do right now was to appreciate the family she had with her.

"Merry Christmas, Sassette." She whispered, turning around and heading back in.

* * *

Sassette rocked back and forth on her heels, hiding a certain package away in her cloak. Tegs wasn't the only one who could hide things like that. Maybe he already knew about it, knew what it was, knew that she was going to give him it now, but she doubted that. This once, just this once, it felt like she was one step ahead of him. Maybe not a big step, maybe nothing bigger than a tiptoe, but it didn't matter.

She was going to surprise him.

Tonight of all nights, that seemed like the most obvious thing. But she'd made no mention of it, as much as she'd wanted to, and Sassette was smurfing that she could actually get one up on him.

"Merry Christmas, Tegs." She made sure to enjoy the real, genuine _shock_ on his face as the raven-haired Imp slowly tore away at the package. He looked even more stunned when he got to the actual gift, a good luck charm. That's what it was supposed to be, what everyone at the market, especially the seller, seemed to think it was.

Sassette wished she could've paid for it, but the way she'd done it, no one had gotten hurt. No one had seemed to want it, or notice when it went "missing".

Besides, Tegs had done the same thing only a few hours ago, seeing as how he'd wanted to celebrate tonight even if they didn't have the funds.

They'd gotten enough bread for the both of them and a bottle of beer. They'd also gotten a good chase out of it, much to her crazy partner's pleasure.

Sassette looked down briefly, now getting a bit nervous from the silence, at the small flask, now empty. It wasn't often they got to have such drinks. They'd mostly been forced to chance it with spring and rain water.

"Ah." Tegs was quiet, turning over the object on his hand. Sassette felt the smile slip off her face. He didn't like it. "Yeah, well, thanks."

He was a travelling Imp, he'd probably seen dozens of them before. Probably even had a couple himself. It could've been worse, she smurfed; he could've just as easily trashed it or pulled a Grouchy and claim to _hate_ it.

But darn it, she'd risked her hide to get that for him, and now he was treating it like it was some average piece of junk? She wouldn't make that mistake again, no sir.

"Sassette?" Her head snapped up. Tegs was still holding the charm, but now he was looking at her. "I mean it. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

 _He's just saying that._

Shut. Up.

Sassette managed to smurf off of it when she noticed what Tegs was doing now.

"What's that?" He was now holding onto something, fiddling with it in his hands, something that was covered up in some type of cloth.

"Oh, this?" Tegs shrugged, looking over his shoulder as he handed over the wrapped up item. "It's nothing, really. Merry Christmas to you too, freckles."

 _Excitin eagles_. Sassette felt like she was fit to burst. What was it? What could it be? He'd gotten her something? It seemed pretty light and small. Maybe it was also a charm? The grey cloth felt very soft and light, but the object inside did not. A heavier and slightly bigger charm, then, maybe.

As she opened it, everything seemed to stop.

There were two things there, the first being a tiny slip of paper.

 _Here's to good traveling and, with any luck, many more years of it to come. Use it well, freckles._

The second was a dagger, looking brand new.

"Tegs- this- I can't-" There was a lot she could've said, but she didn't know where to start. Finally, Sassette just swallowed the lump in her throat and tackled him, trapping him in a tight hug. "Thank you. If you can smurf weapons like this, though, why keep usin those?"

She gestured to where she knew he kept the worn daggers hidden.

"Well, I find it to be more fun to use the older daggers." There was that gleam in his eye again.

"So now I've got to work towards being able to use the old dagger again?" Sassette gave a small smile, eyebrows raised.

"If you want. Really, I was thinking more along the lines that you could use it for show, and use the older one for any actual fighting. If someone sees that, they might just think twice before trying to jump you."

"Sounds like a plan. Thank you."

"Eh, only almost cost me an arm and a leg. Literally." Tegs lied down, placing the charm away. "I hope it works for you."

Sassette followed suit, lying down on her side, facing the fire. Her mind wandered back to a topic she'd been hoping she could smurf it off of.

The village.

She suddenly wished there was some more of that beer left. She was regretting downing it all in one sitting now. At the time, she'd been tired and thirsty after practicing her fighting with Tegs, and it had seemed like a good idea then.

She didn't want to think about this, not now, but her brain didn't agree.

Sassette couldn't help but smurf back to what they must've been doing there right now, how they were celebrating and if everything was alright. She'd never had Christmas at the village, had known she wouldn't for at least another year, but... What had their Christmas been like?

She hoped the Smurflings would get some gifts they could play with and enjoy, maybe some repairs for their instruments, though she couldn't smurf any of them anything. Even if she could smurf a toy or two around, there really didn't seem to be a way, safe or not, to smurf it back to the village from here.

Smurfette had probably gotten some clothes, courtesy of Tailor, maybe a nice picture or two from Painter, some makeup from Vanity. Sassette wondered what she would've given the older Smurfette.

Something special, if she could've. Maybe she would've been able to find something interesting, somewhere out in the forest or nearby.

They were all probably having a good time, spreading the holiday cheer and just being all around smurfy.

Even if she couldn't be with them, Sassette smurfed that they were having a good Christmas.

* * *

"Who do you smurf it is?" Nat asked, smurfing his face off with a towel. The three Smurflings had been ambushed by the Masked Pie Smurfer, not left out in his many, many attacks. They could only guess who'd smurfed him to have the three of them pied.

"I dunno." Slouchy shrugged and smurfed away the last bits of the dessert that were still on his hat. "It could be anybody, I guess."

"Better question is who smurfed him to get us." Snappy grumbled, also smurfing the pie off of his face.

It wasn't really surprising to smurf that an adult had gone and given Smurfberries to smurf them pied in the face, but there weren't exactly too many suspects. At least, they hadn't gone and fought with anyone recently, and they really did get along pretty well with most of the adults, save for…

The three Smurflings paused and looked at each other.

"Brainy." He was one of the adult Smurfs who was _always_ smurfing heads with them. He always thought his way was the only right way, and their "newer" ideas didn't sit well with him. They'd probably have bribed the Masked Pie Smurfer to ambush _him_ if they hadn't been caught trying to do that last night.

The noise outside got even louder, and Nat and Snappy ran over to the window to see what was going on.

"Ooh."

"Ouch."

Whatever it was, it had the two of them both wincing _and_ smiling.

"What's smurfing now?" Slouchy asked, finally smurfing over to join them.

"Smurfette just nailed Vanity with a pie right in the face." Snappy snickered as complete chaos smurfed down below.

"Smurfs like everyone's smurfing at anyone they can." Nat ducked as a pie went hurtling up at them, flying through the window and hitting the opposite wall with a _splat_. Good thing they'd managed to convince Papa Smurf to smurf making them clean the treehouse off until tomorrow.

"Lucky we're up here, then." They watched, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else. It was strangely fun to see the adults, who were normally a lot more collected than this, acting like Smurflings. "Ya think the Masked Pie Smurfer's behind this somehow?"

"Who else?" Snappy had a manic grin on his face. It was good, though maybe just a little weird, but still good, to see the adults smurfing fun for once. _Their_ kind of fun too.

"Well, whoever it is, or if it even is somesmurf else, they sure know how to smurf things wild."

* * *

There was a light drizzle around them as they scuffled, making it all the better. The cold water only served to make Sassette more alert, more ready to retaliate whatever she had thrown at her. And with them moving as quickly as they were, it mostly just felt good to have the chilled water to cool them both off.

Granted, the same could be said of its effects on her opponent. Ah, she could deal with it.

Both of her daggers, old and new, were out and held at the ready.

He jumped up as she lunged, his other dagger just missing her back. Tegs himself barely escaped a stab at his leg.

Then he managed to strike, slicing her lip as she managed to barely nick one of his fingers. He was kicked backwards while Sassette got up, only for her to notice that Tegs was being quick with his rebound. In fact, he was close to stabbing her face.

Sassette turned around and dove out of his way, heart pounding. _This_ was something else. The frenzy of the whole thing, the constant action, the way everything counted and flowed…

She turned and tied to make a quick hit.

He dodged and rolled, managing to cut her arm as he did. She bit down a growl as she realized she'd tried to shield herself with her arm again. Sassette still hadn't managed to curb that, to both of their frustrations. She'd be able to to stop one of these days, she'd make sure of it.

Thunder crackled above and the rain only got harder, faster, colder. Her body felt like a lightning bolt, ready to strike as fast and as hard as she could, her blood humming with energy. Sassette swiped away the blood that was dripping from her lip and grinned.

Tegs raised a hand, signaling that they were done. Oh, but she'd learned it didn't always mean that it was all over. Before, she had turned her back on him only for Tegs to suddenly start the whole thing over again.

Unfortunately, he seemed to mean it, even though he was grinning. Sassette had to stuff down the disappointment she felt rising up. They whole thing had still been great. It was a fantastic way to get rid of any and all stress and to just have shame, all while practicing and working on defense.

It was almost like a dance, but it was so much more fun than any dance she'd ever heard of. The closest it came to was playing with the Smurflings, but this was even quicker, and it was far chancier. It was just her and Tegs, luck and skills. She couldn't help but laugh, and Tegs joined in with his throaty chuckles.

Now her bones were starting to ache and the sting of her cuts smacked her full force, but the whole thing had still been insanely fun. Yes, she was tired, but it was nice to know that she was making progress and that Tegs would likely be aching too.

Tegs drank some of the rainwater that had been collecting in a container while they were busy and then handed it over to her. Sassette nodded her head and muttered a thank you that he no doubt couldn't hear.

It didn't matter, she told herself as she tried to shake off the rain water. What _did_ was that they'd both had fun, and boy, had they ever.

* * *

"I've passed through that forest of yours before, and I've heard more than a few stories and passing tales about a passive village full of blue people that're supposed to live in it." Tegs looked up at the cloudy sky, which more or less a glowing splash as the sun was setting. "I didn't doubt for a minute, not even when we first met, that your village happened to be the same. However, I also thought that everyone was blowing up stories, since that's just people doing what they do best; making mountain stories out of folks they rarely ever or never saw."

"Really?" Sassette made a leap onto the next slippery rock, trying hard not to fall into the deep creek. It wasn't the widest, but she had yet to see the bottom. Fish of all kinds swam past, each and every one successfully managing to keep up a nice steady pace while avoiding the rocks.

"Your group isn't known as the most social either, but I can definitely understand that." He gestured to her. "It's the same reason I said you should keep your hood up in crowded areas, you know."

"I haven't asked again, don't think I ever actually did in tha first place, but… Why? Why do you want me ta keep my hood up whenever we go ta a tavern or inn, or even just a marketplace? And what in tha world's it gotta do with- with that night." Tegs chuckled as he picked up his pace.

"Bluebell- Hah, that's pretty much it right there. You're a 'bluebell' of sorts; your blue skin can drive a good many men, of any species, more than a little nuts." Sassette almost missed the next jump.

"You can't be serious." His laughter only got louder. It was a rough sort of laugh, but good to hear. Normally she only got those deep chuckles out of him, at best.

"As serious as I get. Your blue skin, mixed with that fiery red hair and those wretched freckles of yours, makes you a very easy and _very_ tempting target to grab interest, whether it's good or bad." Sassette rolled her eyes as she jumped from the last rock and onto the grassy meadow.

"You seem ta be controllin yourself just fine." She snarked, her arms crossed. Tegs could come up with some wild theories and insane lies, but even this was too wacky for her to believe.

"Ah, but I'm a gentlemen." He gave a mock bow, a playful grin on his face.

"And pigs fly." She snorted, a smile breaking through. Why wasn't she surprised? Tegs could be so moody and sullen one minute, and carefree and teasing the next, changing without warning and leaving her in the dust. Imps! She quirked an eyebrow and smiled wider. "'Wretched freckles'?"

The two started entering a thicker part of the meadow, one with far more brambles and trees. A large bird flew overhead, orange feathers almost making it look like it was on fire in the bright sunset light. A nearby mouse darted out of the bush it was in as they walked past, and another bird swooped down and tried to get it. It missed and barely stopped itself from ramming into a tree and ended up taking to the skies again, its low cries fading as it caught up to the other one. The mouse scurried away, back into the large prickly bush.

The stream now looked like it was golden, the fish in it silver and bronze arrows, the grass from here to there a deep purple, and the sky was almost every color imaginable. Sassette found herself being reminded of one of Painter's paintings.

They'd have to come back here some time, it really was a very nice area.

"Let me tell you, they're as teasing and frustrating as yourself, _freckles_." Tegs walked to a shady area by the side of the stream, further down than where'd they'd crossed it, one that was protected by some more of the large thorny bushes. Sassette followed, already preparing to set up camp. She should _not_ have taken that as a compliment, but it was impossible not to. "I think it may be a reason the old man has kept you and the rest so tucked away. It still seems pointless to me, in the long run at least, but I guess I can understand his paranoia."

"Oh, yeah, he just _loved_ bein called that. 'Old man'." Sassette tried to fight back another grin. "I don't think ya made much of a good impression on him."

They both knew he couldn't care less about what Papa Smurf thought about him.

"Because that's exactly what I wanted to do, wasn't it?" Tegs laid back and waved his hand. "I call 'em as I see 'em, and he's an old man as sure as I'm an Imp."

It was funny, sorta, how a crazy Imp could make her feel so much better.

* * *

It was funny, in the way that Jokey's jokes were "funny", how easily the crazy "holiday" managed to sneak up on them and make everyone feel miserable.

While he understood the reasons behind it, that didn't make smurfing through Unhappiness Day any easier for Tailor. He didn't think it made it easier for anybody, really.

Because sewing was what he did, and admittedly enjoyed, that was how he tried to smurf by the day as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Brainy, who was smurfing an even bigger nuisance out of himself today, hadn't been able to let him smurf it.

Basically, the know-nothing-know-it-all's spiel came down to Brainy insisting on smurfing around to make sure that Tailor wasn't "breaking the rules" and happy. He'd have accomplished that just by hanging around, but of course Brainy couldn't just smurf it at that.

The one good thing he could smurf out of all of this was that Clumsy wasn't with Brainy, which meant he couldn't smurf any of Tailor's work. It also meant that the lucky Smurf was away from Brainy, and probably all the better off for it.

While Tailor was glad that the klutz was able to be happy, it didn't make smurfing with Clumsy's pain in the neck of a best friend any easier to deal with.

"Alright wisesmurf, _you_ smurf it." Already he smurfed it was a mistake; Brainy couldn't sew to save his life, and anything he tried to smurf would just be complete and utter schlock.

Of course, today Brainy smurfed to be particularly strong headed, so Tailor ended up smurfing the needle torn out of his hand. The bespectacled Smurf didn't start working with it however, or anything like that, he just held it in his hand as he smurfed a finger in the air.

"If I were to just walk away, that would most likely leave you feeling, for whatever reason, pleased and happy with yourself, and that just won't smurf on Unhappiness Day." Tailor sat back and sighed as Brainy smurfed on. Well… Maybe one or two of the items could be saved or salvaged. "Besides, you could obviously use my underappreciated guidance for this, and you've let others help you before, such as Sassette, so naturally…"

He kept prattling on and on. His droning eventually became white noise, not that that made it any less maddening. Maybe Tailor could save both the clothes and his sanity by smurfing something like stitching Brainy's mouth shut. Of course, as soon as everyone found out, they'd all be happy. Couldn't have that now, could they? This ridiculous holiday forbid it. Then again, who would care? The day was pretty much just "Brainy Annoys the Ever-loving Smurf Out of Everyone Day", except Brainy was able to smurf it now without getting the boot for it. If it hadn't been for Papa Smurf's insistence, they never would have thought about smurfing the "holiday" more than the first time.

"After all, some of this is done in an obviously ludicrous fashion, something I'm honestly rather surprised to smurf from the reasonably practical Smurf that you so often seem to be and claim." Tailor's hands tightened on the arms of the chair. "Oh well, we can't all live up to expectations. I suppose I could fix this appropriately, as well as solve some of the difficulties and issues that you seem to have been disregarding for whatever reason."

Maybe it would be better if he did it now but waited until Unhappiness Day was over to smurf the good news. Or just not tell anybody and let them smurf it out for themselves…

"Honestly, why you've been smurfing some of these subjects and even irrationally refusing to listen to some very small, very reasonable, suggestions simply astounds me." Oh, Tailor smurfed it did. Someone _not_ listen to Brainy? Perish the thought. "For instance, that suggestion I believe I've smurfed once or twice before about you smurfing my clothes a color other than white, say, perhaps a nice distinguished red…"

Brainy ended up having the needle torn out of _his_ hand and was quickly kicked out of the mushroom.

"Happy Unhappiness Day to you." Tailor smurfed the door shut. He had a good excuse.

Brainy'd been too happy making him miserable.

* * *

Now, just because Sassette enjoyed Tegs' company and enjoyed traveling with him, it didn't mean she was stupid. Both of them knew that, but the Imp was _pushing_ it today.

"You think I'd have other motives?" He didn't even try to look innocent this time.

"I know you do." It was pretty much who he was. He was tricky and sneaky, even more than he was confusing and quick.

"Well…" More avoiding. "You've mentioned, once or twice, the trouble you also had when you started out in your village. Spring'll be back, and if you can defend yourself from any stubborn or thickheaded fellas in your village along with everything else…"

"Tegs…" He only raised his eyebrows. "Tegs!"

"Sweetheart, if you did, they'd learn their lesson quick. These guys know where you live, and it sounds like they also see you multiple times a day, which makes them ten times more dangerous than any bum in a tavern." Tegs pulled out one of his own daggers. "And it sounds like everyone pretty much loses their heads around there during spring. Even if they are peace lovers, sometimes a guy'll do just about anything. Why wouldn't you want to use it?"

"I would _never_ use this on any of them. They're like family ta me, and I don't ever wanna- No, just… no." Sassette tried not to shudder. The thought of using the dagger on anyone in the village made her sick. "Besides, I've already found a different way ta deal with it that doesn't involve these."

She made a brief gesture to where she was keeping her daggers.

"Really now?" He raised an eyebrow higher.

"One hit and they back off." Tegs' lips turned up, but he didn't stop.

"What about the guy whose supposed to be super strong, then? Do you think a hit would get _him_ to back down?" His walls were up and his voice was pretty much a growl.

Sassette was really regretting telling him anything about the village.

"You go up against magic users all the time, don't you?" Tegs narrowed his eyes. "I'm not one myself, rather die, but someone like him would be one of my first targets to manipulate or trick. It might even be possible to trick him without magic, you know. One natural herb that messes with his mind and boom! He's lost it."

"He wouldn't let 'em smurf tha chance." Sassette crossed her arms, her teeth clenched. Tegs was always putting his nose where the darned thing didn't belong.

"It's not like it'd be hard. A well-used potion, or even just a simple spell, and he could go from knowing who you are and where he is to thinking you're all out to get him or trying to attack him." Her heart sunk a little. Oh, so he really was prepared to debate about this. "And he'd never even know it, being as used to magic as it seems you all are."

"I take it you've seen somethin like that before?" Maybe there was something she could use to defend that, but Tegs' distrust of magic ran pretty far. It was like arguing with a cat about why thunderstorms were fun, or trying to tell a fish to come out of the water for a bit.

"It tends to be a favorite of the magic users I've had the misfortune to run into." He messed with one of his daggers. "I can see why, it seems like even beginners can do that. If I'd decided to go ahead and use magic for more than deals, I can tell you that that would've been one of the first I'd learn. It can be used on pretty much anyone at any time, too, so you're never really safe."

Sassette didn't quite know what to say to that.

"Once I get back, I'm goin ta be a jumble of nerves and paranoia, ya know that?" The tension started to slowly melt out of the both of them.

"Suspicious Smurfette, then? A right rename to fit in with your village's naming pattern, I'd think." Just like that, it was all gone.

Sassette cracked a smile, as did Tegs.

"What if there really was a Suspicious Smurf? Yeesh." Sassette shuddered. They'd probably never be able to make it, with the village being under attack so often. The poor Smurf, or Smurfette, would be a nervous wreck all the time.

Poor Scaredy had it rough enough. Did the village need a second one? She didn't think so.

"We might just find one out here, you never know."

Oh, smurf it all. There could really be a Suspicious Smurfette out there. Sassette let her head hit the ground.

A smile crossed her face as she was hit that this was real. She really _was_ going travelling with an Imp to find more Smurfettes, and it seemed like any day now they could actually find someone. The world was such a big place, it would be impossible not to.

Then she sat straight up again, the smile gone. If they did find someone, though…

"Tegs?" He looked over at her. "You're sure that that 'attraction' you talked about applies ta most species?"

"Positive. Almost all of the ones I've ever met, at least, seem to have a thing for your skin color."

"So, that means…"

"That any of your people out there too could be the target of that kind of infatuation? And probably not near as good at protecting themselves as you're getting to be?" Tegs' eyes were fixed on the fire, narrowed slightly. "Yep. To be on the level with you, I'm not so much worried about finding any if these folks so much as I am just what kind of other people they were found by _first_."

"You might be right." Sure there were good people out there, but there were also plenty of bad.

"Eh, I might not be. There is a good part to it, assuming I'm right. It won't be hard at all to dig up info on or hear about any of your kind if they happen to be nearby." He gave a grin and a wink, hands behind his head. "Word of beauties, regardless of skin color, has a habit of travelling far and fast. Another reason I wanted you to wear your hood. Trust me; I can get enough people to follow us by myself, we really don't need extra help with help."

"Yeah, but that's usually because they want you dead for something you did." Sassette gave a somewhat crooked smile as she thought about the chase they'd had earlier.

"Bah, they never have enough proof. Too many people jumping to conclusions they shouldn't be, they don't realize they're going after somebody that's innocent." He was grinning, though, and that alone was enough to make it all sound like a big joke.

Which it kinda was.

"The day you're innocent is tha day I wear a dress willingly." Tegs straightened up a bit and gave a wicked grin. It would've worried her, if she hadn't known that he probably hadn't been innocent for a day in his life. And as ridiculously stupid as it sounded, she could almost imagine him doing his darndest as a baby to commit every crime and offense he could and then try to get away with it because of his age.

"You're going to have to put your money where your mouth is." Sassette snorted quietly as she rolled her eyes.

"Feh, when you're actually innocent. That means I'm pretty much safe for tha rest of time."

"Oh, I'm not that bad. Besides, you've just given me a challenge." So she had.

They didn't talk much after that, a comfortable silence settling over them as the fire crackled on.

Sassette looked up at the stars. It wasn't unusually calm for a spring night, but lately the weather had been so bad that it seemed so odd. Not that she was going to complain; Sassette knew by tomorrow they'd probably be right back smack dab in the middle of another downpour.

Tegs looked like he was asleep, though she still couldn't tell if he was just faking it or not. Even if they traveled together for years, Sassette bet that she would never really be able to tell.

He could act like such an untroubled guy that it was almost shocking, but he could just as easily switch back to being a brooding snarker. If Sassette worried about things, and she could pretty much feel the fears prowling somewhere in her mind, it would almost always bring him down too. Neither of them needed that.

The Smurflings had probably had another fun day in the mud, or maybe they'd played around at the river. Wouldn't now be about the right time for it to start to thaw and warm up? Puppy and Baby would both like that. Then again, maybe they'd all decided to go and fool around somewhere else in the forest. That was always likely.

Of course, she didn't have a doubt that Pappy had been busy in his house with some experiment. Brainy was probably trying to "help" him, probably rambling more than helping. If he was, then Jokey probably would try or already had tried to do something with or to him to make it more "fun", if he was desperate enough or just wanted to mess with Brainy.

Tracker had probably taken a few walks, if the weather at the village was anything like what they were having here. Even if it hadn't smurfed so well, he'd probably taken at least one walk; maybe he was even on one now.

It was spring, which meant- Sassette winced and slightly shook her head. Poor Smurfette. While she knew her older sister enjoyed spring, mostly because of all the flowers that would be blooming and the usually good weather, Sassette also knew it didn't smurf much to make the season a living smurf for her, thanks to Spring Fever. Would it be rearing its ugly head now, or would Smurfette be safe for a bit longer?

Well, whether or not she was dealing with that, Sassette could bet that she and Vanity had been busy trying out whatever clothes Tailor had made them for the season.

Personally, Sassette couldn't see why their clothes couldn't be used for longer than just a season, especially since the two of them rarely did anything that could smurf any harm to the outfits, but then what did she know? It wasn't like she cared much for clothes or style. No thank you, her shirt and overalls did her just fine, and she didn't need to go to Tailor every few months for "new" clothing that looked just the same as the old. She usually ended up going to him for some stitching up for her outfit, but never anything "different but not".

Speaking of Tailor, he was probably busy again. He almost always was. She could already see him, hunched over some things that needed repair, or maybe working on some fresh cloth to make new clothes out of.

 _Right_. Busy, busy, busy. That reminded her of a certain cook who was probably in a similar tiring position.

… Nobody was really there to smurf either of them a hand, now were they…

Those worries that had been lurking decided to finally smurf out.

Tegs and Sassette were out here roaming the world for a reason. Well, Tegs really just seemed to be in on it for the thrill and the fun, but she had a purpose for drifting.

The adventure was a bonus. A nice bonus, even a great one at times, but it wasn't really the reason she was travelling. She was supposed to be searching, looking. Not like they hadn't tried, keeping their ears and eyes open as well as they could. Still, for whatever reason, she'd thought they'd have found something by now. A clue, a lead, something, anything. Maybe a rumor of some sort, a witness, a story… But nope, nothing. It wasn't like she was complaining about the thills they'd had so far, she'd enjoyed most, but…

Hopefully the two of them would find some Smurfettes that could help with things like that. They'd been looking for months, but it was hard to tell if that meant they were just looking in the wrong places or not.

When they found them, would any of them want to go with her? If she found ones that were happy, what then? She couldn't exactly just uproot them from homes they already had and wanted to keep to a village in a forest they may never have heard of.

What if they spoke a completely different language? Would they think she was nuts for wanting to take them somewhere where it was possible that no one could –or would– speak to them?

What if the ones they found were dangerous? Could they manage to bring them back to the village while trusting that they wouldn't try to harm someone?

Sassette shook her head. This was ridiculous, so why did the questions nag at her and bother her so much?

What ifs. Even if they were all wrong, though, it bothered Sassette. She'd hate to make someone feel torn, like if it came to choosing between the home they knew that had no other Smurfs or Smurfettes to one they didn't know that had their own kind living there.

Personally, if she was happy somewhere with whatever family she knew, she'd probably stay, more of her kind or no.

Not that she would ever force them. Tegs would probably- No, of course he wouldn't… Well, _Sassette_ wouldn't.

Then again, for all the fun she'd had exploring out here, Sassette was sure that there was nowhere safer for Smurfs than the village.

There was always the possibility that there was another village of them out there, but it wasn't likely. It wasn't worth getting anybody's hopes up for, at least.

If she found one, that'd be great, more than fantastic, but if not- No surprise there.

As she fell to sleep, she was dimly aware of someone putting something soft and bundled up- a cloak?- under her head, like a pillow.

Smurf, he'd been awake.

* * *

Outside of the village, late at night, a certain member was out in search of fixing a problem they'd accidently created.

It was so embarrassing and she just felt so stupid for having ever smurfed it. Oh, she should've known better.

Smurfette glared down at her pale white skin, wishing she could just scrub it all away until her skin was its natural - _right_ \- color again. She'd tried that already, though. It hadn't worked.

While she wasn't exactly queen of appearances and beauty, that title went to Vanity, she still cared a good deal about her looks and worked hard to keep them up to smurf. It had been a hard and fast smurf to the gut to find out that in exchange for making the blue rose blue, Smurfette had been smurfed with this unsmurfly color and a scent that attracted bees.

Oh, why couldn't she have just let it be? She should've known as soon as she found at that even Farmer couldn't grow them and had given up _decades_ ago that it would be silly. She should've known better after everyone she talked to insisted that it wasn't natural. Should've, could've, but she didn't and here she was, smurfing for it.

Smurfette looked up at that cursed rose and back down at the parchment in her hand, trying as she did to not focus on the unnatural color of said hand. If she smurfed this, then she would be back to normal. Yet…

If she did this, she'd be breaking a promise. A promise with Mother Nature, of all people.

At least no one was here to see it. It was bad enough that she'd been smurfed earlier in the village, the pesky bees trailing her. She'd made a complete fool of herself today.

When she'd prayed and hoped to be left alone during Spring Fever before, she'd never meant it in the sense that she'd have _this_ happen. Now nobody would look at her or talk to her.

"Oh, blue rose, blue rose, pity me; oh, Mother Nature, hear my plea; like sun and moon and evening star, we each of us are what we are. Please, Mother Nature, set me free, free of the promise I made to thee." The wind started to pick up, smurfing loudly. A bolt of lightning smurfed in the sky, and the rose abruptly fell off its stem.

Smurfette bent down to touch the rose, unsure what had gone wrong. She gasped slightly as the rose pricked her, smurfing her hand. It _had_ worked, though. She was smurfy blue again, just like she should be, not that ghastly white.

Smurfette glanced down at the rose one last time. It was such a pity; it'd been so pretty, now that she'd thought about it. Not when it had been blue, no, she'd grown to despise her color smurfing on it. But before, before she had messed with it or changed either of their colors, it had been very nice to look at.

Papa Smurf was right, everything had a price.

Why did the rose have to pay for her breaking her promises?

* * *

The sun was going down, covering the valley in an insane show of lights and colors. Sassette found she couldn't really enjoy it, though, and shifted from one foot to another.

How long was he going to take?

It was spring, Tegs was still off doing smurf knew what, and she was feeling antsier than a bear in a beehive.

Sassette didn't like it when they went to one of these places and Tegs wouldn't let her do anything. Sure, she could go off and do something anyways; she didn't _have_ to listen to him. If she was out in the trees, she definitely would explore a bit. But if they'd been anywhere else in the valley, _he wouldn't have left her behind_. It wasn't like they were joined at the hip, but they were sharing this blasted adventure together. If Sassette wanted to go off and explore on her own out in the wilderness, as she had a few times before, there'd have been no problem. Could she poke around here, though?

 _That_ he wouldn't allow. It was ridiculous.

It wasn't even like he was forcing her to constantly be at his side here- _No_ , he'd ditched her and told her to stay put.

If he pulled stunts like this when she'd just joined him, maybe she could get it. Then at least he would just be being careful about someone who he thought was a beginner. It'd been months, though. Months of them travelling together and watching each other's backs.

While she found all of the people going by to be interesting to look at, it became clear quickly, after only a conversation or two, that she'd get more entertainment talking to a brick wall.

It did start to get interesting when the nearby Wood Elf, who'd been standing there for a while, finally spoke to her.

"Got their heads so far up their rears it's a miracle any of them can walk straight." Sassette chuckled, having found that to be the case in most of the towns she and Tegs had visited. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. Most of the folks I see tend to come by regularly. What're you doing here by yourself?"

"I can take care of myself _just_ fine." Sassette made sure he could see her "just for decoration" dagger. The Wood Elf held up his hands in defeat.

"Good to know, I was just checking. There was an accident here just last week, and nobody wants a repeat." Great.

It was nice to be able to talk to somebody who wasn't Tegs, she'd admit. As much as she enjoyed spending time with the wild imp, it felt refreshing to have somebody "normal" to talk to. Not that it was anything like talking to someone from the village, but it was something. Maybe they could come back every once in a while, this place seemed nice enough. Sassette smiled, even though she knew it couldn't be seen, and opened her mouth to ask what his name was.

Naturally, _that_ was when Tegs showed up.

He came out with a map in his hand, big smirk on his face. He started moving much faster once he spotted her and the Wood Elf.

The Wood Elf didn't like that.

"What do you want Imp?" Sassette grimaced as she recalled just how most species viewed Imps. They were not the most popular, for a variety of –mostly, if not entirely, founded- reasons.

"So sorry, but neither of us are willing risk our poor eyes any longer, what with your ugly mug and all." Tegs snarked, managing to maneuver the both of them out of the area, through a thick crowd, and towards a much more empty and abandoned area. He succeeded in getting one more shot in. "I believe your sister's over _there_ , you've got the wrong snogging partner."

He'd pointed at a troll that without a doubt _didn't_ look anything like the Wood Elf.

Like that. Sassette was also recalling how Tegs could be just as harsh and crude as, if not cruder and harsher than, anyone when it came to insults. The Wood Elf didn't show up, though, lost in the crowd when they tried to storm after her and Tegs.

"And what was that about?" Tegs casually looked around as he hissed it. To any passerby, it would seem like he was completely relaxed and just talking to a friend. But Imps didn't _have_ friends; they had pawns. "I was pretty sure we agreed it would be good for you to keep yourself as low key as you could."

" _We_ didn't agree on anything." She snapped, walking faster. She was heading away from the crowded and bustling village, and towards the dark forest. Sassette was already regretting saying anything in the first place. " _You_ just told me to keep quiet like a _good little girl_."

She _hated_ that. So he had more experience, so she was more likely to be at risk than him. So what? Didn't Tegs love risks and challenges?

"Alright hotshot, what's the deal? You've been nothing but snippy lately, and I don't care for it much." Tegs' eyes narrowed, and Sassette knew she'd gone too far. She thought about bringing up how she didn't much like being kept in the dark, but thought better of it.

"Sorry, sorry." She ran a hand down her face, holding back a groan. She hated spring. _Really_ hated it. She was homesick, she missed her family, -especially the little details about them. Sassette had found herself missing things like the way Smurfette often hummed under her breath, the way the Smurflings could almost always be found playing around in their house in the evening, or how there was usually at least one person shouting at Jokey in the morning. She was missing their varied accents and tics, the way things looked at different times of day, the way almost everyone walked differently.- but that didn't mean she could us that as an excuse to snap. "It's Spring Fever."

"And that would be?" Tegs' eyes were still narrowed, but now one of his eyebrows was quirked

"Well, spring's the season of love, right? Love is in tha air and all that." Sassette was having a bit of trouble. The right words were running away from her as fast as they could. If she could've explained it before, she would've. Well, maybe not, seeing as how she wasn't supposed to let Tegs know just about everything he already did. "It's like that, sorta. In the village, for example, it's when most get- Lovesick, I guess?"

"Fun." Tegs looked behind them again, but he sounded much more relaxed now. "This happens every spring?"

"Pretty much. It's also one of tha reasons I'd like ta find other Smurfettes for tha village." Sassette scratched the back of her neck, glad to have that darned hood off. It was itchier than it looked, and it already looked pretty dang itchy. "I hope that'll help, ya know? At least a little."

"So 'Spring Fever' basically makes your entire kind love crazed for the whole season?" Tegs held a hand up to his chin, looking lost in thought. "Well, information on _that_ would get passed around quickly, no two ways about it. That means this season may just be our best bet at finding more of your kind, then."

He was choosing to look on the bright side. That was good and all, but…

"It doesn't bother you? That you've never heard of this before?" It bothered _her_ , at least, just a little. Tegs absolutely didn't know everything, but he almost always had at least heard of it or knew where to go to find out more. Sassette looked up and put the dagger back in her cloak. She already started to relax. If he didn't, then they could just continue on as they had before, just with Sassette trying not to get to homesick or think too much about being bac-

"Eh, I've dealt with wild animals in heat before. It's just not exactly something I look into too often." He didn't even finish his sentence before he took off running, mad grin on his face and shine in his eyes. Sassette didn't stop chasing Tegs until the sun finished going down and he decided it was time to go and get the item he'd scouted out.

He was still very proud of that little gag.

 _Not_ funny.

* * *

Sassette made sure to put every bit of anger she had into every jab she made with her dagger when the sparred later that night, as well as into her voice when they did it verbally. It didn't seem to bother him.

He was holding the gem that he'd been so set on getting, kept turning it over in his hands. Sassette had to admit, it looked even better up close. It was purple in the few rare places it wasn't clear, and the jewel was in the shape of a cube. The way it reflected the firelight was certainly something.

"Not a bad day at all." Tegs pocketed the object, having also gotten it at what he considered the best price: free. Not that that had happened legally, of course. "May actually be one of our better ones, wouldn't you say?"

Sassette shot a halfhearted glare at him. She hadn't forgotten his awful joke earlier.

"You're still foaming about that?" Tegs looked over at her and grinned. "Come on freckles, I was kidding with you."

"Bad joke." She grumbled, wrapping the cloak around her.

It was hard to stay mad at him when he looked like that. Besides, hadn't she dealt with worse jokes before? Jokey, for example, had smurfed plenty that were just as bad.

It was also hard to stay mad at him with her blood still pumping from the earlier chase after they'd "borrowed" the gem and the dagger practice they'd had later. It'd been fast, fun, and exciting, like it always was. It was all Sassette could ever want from an adventure.

"Not one of my best." He agreed, not moving as she let her head rest on his shoulder. "I suppose I _do_ owe you an apology."

"Darn right you do." Sassette's eyes closed. It'd been a long, busy day. So she missed the village, so what? She'd be back eventually, and until then she'd always have Tegs. Even if he was frustrating as all get out some days, she could only imagine how lonely she'd be if he wasn't there.

At least now she knew _why_ he'd left her behind earlier.

He'd wanted to figure out where the gem was, exactly, so he knew where he would have to get it from. Now, most people didn't trust Imp as it was, for good reason, but they really didn't trust Imps that had people travelling with them. Then you got the people who were convinced they could free someone from their magical bonds by killing the Imp. Apparently it was also commonly thought, especially around the more superstitious areas, that an Imp who had someone with them was an Imp with an extra set of eyes and ears, and an Imp that was capable of catching others and making them work with him.

Granted, most people seemed to think that about Imps anyway, whether it was because of experience or stories. Still, it was more likely that they'd have less trouble if Tegs just left Sassette at one end of the market and travelled himself to where he wanted to go.

They were all right to be wary of Tegs. Sassette wasn't an idiot, she knew she'd been trapped into her deal with Tegs and that he was more than capable of doing the same to anybody else. To be fair, he was probably the nicest Imp she'd ever have the (mis)fortune to meet, not that that said much.

The point was, though, that it made sense, that he'd done what he had.

Not that that meant he was off the hook. Not by a long shot. He'd still left her in the dark when he could've just told her.

Being a manipulative sneak like he was, it wasn't always as easy as it should've been for him to just tell her some of these things.

Sometimes she forgot that, forgot that Tegs really could just be as barred to her as he normally wasn't.

She fell asleep like that, mind racing but her body tired, leaning against Tegs in front of the cozy fire. It was nice, warm, and safe.

As safe as it would ever get with him, anyways. She didn't think Tegs would ever really allow either of them to be safe enough, or at least not often enough for them to get _too_ content. In fact, Sassette was pretty sure the one reason he'd wanted the smurfing rock in the first place was that so whenever someone finally found that it was missing, they'd try to chase him down. He'd been so obvious when doing it that it was impossible that he actually wanted to keep it for more than a little while.

Alrighty then, so they were safe for a few minutes. Heck, it was still something, far better than nothing at all, and she'd take it.

* * *

That stormy night, one that sent many running to Papa Smurf like storms had back when they were just Smurflings, had also brought them a guest.

A guest that happened to be Grandpa Smurf. Who, it turned out, was _the_ Papa Smurf of Papa Smurf, as well as the main topic of conversation that morning.

"I wonder where he's been." Smurfette looked over at Nosey. Uh oh. Normally she'd have been just as eager to talk, but this was going to be one subject that no one would like, she could already tell. They were almost all tired thanks to last night, and Nosey wasn't one of the most liked to begin with.

"Didn't you hear him? All over." She wasn't really expecting an answer; she knew Nosey clung to every detail that he could. Of course he'd heard him.

"Well, _I'm_ glad he's come back." Smurfette tried to smurf the conversation away. She knew just what could, and would, happen if Nosey got too wound up and curious about it. This sort of thing had happened too many times before, and it almost never ended well. "Don't you smurf it's lovely?"

"It's nice and all, sure, but isn't it just a bit, I don't know, odd?" Nosey smurfed down his cup. "We've never heard about him before, and now he just smurfs in out of the blue?"

Smurfette looked over at Vanity, trying to smurf as well as she could that she needed help on this without having to say anything.

"Oh, please. You've just got your nose smurfed out of joint because you're unhappy that you haven't managed to needle anything out about him before." While this got a few chuckles up and down the table, it didn't seem to bother or put off Nosey.

"Kind of, yeah. Why hasn't Papa Smurf ever smurfed about him before, if Grandpa is _his_ Papa Smurf?" Everyone could practically see the gears whirling in Nosey's head as he smurfed on. She didn't doubt there'd have been quite a few people leaving the table if they weren't just as curious as Nosey. Still, as much as it interested her, Pappy Smurf was happy. Wasn't that enough?

"Maybe he thought he was never coming back. I wouldn't want to smurf on or even talk about something as unsmurfy as that." Smurfette tried not to shudder. If the same had happened to them, she knew they wouldn't exactly be smurfing out all the information they could. She wouldn't, at least. "All that matters is that he's here now, and that Papa Smurf's happy."

"Leave him alone for now, huh Nosey? We don't need you smurfing him back away." Nosey didn't smurf the bait, though Smurfette doubted Handy had meant for it to smurf like that, and he only grumbled quietly. For all their sakes, she hoped he took the advice to heart.

But she doubted it. She really doubted it.

* * *

Scattering away the ashes and charcoal from last night's fire, Sassette quickly looked up as Tegs came back.

He'd been off in some nearby market again, this time agreeing to leave her be outside of it. At least out here, she could walk around without feeling like she had a thousand eyes on her back. Sassette had even managed to put down a few "landmarks" she'd found nearby, –While Tegs had more than enough maps, Sassette had figured that graphing her own couldn't hurt– including three streams, one very small Human village, and a series of caves that she'd love to be able to explore later.

From his cloak he pulled a folded up piece of paper and waved it. Hold on… No he couldn't have- Was that really a- It was. That was a map. Tegs was holding up a map, which meant _something_ was going to happen. Not to be paranoid or a downer, but every single time before now hadn't gone so well when he'd done that.

It didn't help that he looked like the cat that'd caught the canary. It was a shifty smile, one that got her on edge.

"Change in plans, doll. We're heading to an area that I'm sure'll interest you." He unfolded the map with a large toothy grin. Sassette tried to speak, but was cut off by another cough. She'd been doing that a lot lately. Sassette hoped it was just the wet weather and not some cold sneaking up on her. "If not, the creatures there will."

"Where would that happen ta be?" Sly sly sly, sneaky sneaky sneaky. Alarm bells were going off in her head, if only because of the way he was walking. He was strutting about like the cockiest of roosters, confident grin on his face. Tegs looked like he had just found out all the secrets of the world and like he just couldn't wait to start using and manipulating them.

It wasn't a good look. It wasn't one that made her think of anything remotely good.

"Egypt. Lovely area, if a bit sandy, and it's one of the ones more likely to have your ilk. Or at least, it's got more than enough people going in and out of it at all times, so if any of yours _have_ passed through, we'll definitely hear about it."

It was more than a bit odd, but maybe Tegs was just trying to liven things up, give it a bit of pep. He was deadly serious about not letting either of them grow bored or get into any ruts, even if it meant doing something out of the way like this. Still, it seemed a bit _too_ out of place…

"How long do you think it'll take us to get there?" It looked like the distance was enormous, and Sassette didn't think they could get there and then back in time for winter. Looking closer at the map, she also noticed how the route Tegs had down was almost in the exact opposite direction of how'd they'd been travelling so far. Or it would be- If it didn't cut _straight through the water_.

Something was up.

"On foot? Weeks, maybe even months, depending on our luck. But, thankfully, we're not going on foot." He grinned, and folded the map back up. "Which sounds more exciting to you, boats or birds? Of course, we could always tag along with some carriages going that way and then…"

* * *

The potion was not addictive. It was _not_.

It was also not in his hand. Where was it, where'd he leave it?

Scaredy curled up even tighter, holding the piping hot covers closer to his body. He had his eyes shut tight, not willing to open them for fear of what was there. His hand shakily shot out to his bedside table, madly searching for the liquid filled vile.

His mind raced as he downed the foul mixture, his throat burning afterwards. It tasted awful, almost like liquid fire. Still, Scaredy could almost feel the shadows being quickly chased and barred from his mind.

Scaredy also had a coughing fit, but he was sure it was an aftereffect of the potion.

Well, he was pretty sure.

Scaredy fidgeted as a few dozen undesirable thoughts poured into his head. What if he was getting sick? What if the potion was slowly killing him, burning and poisoning his insides slowly? What if-

Alright, he'd worry about it for days on end. Right now something else was unsettling him.

Addictions weren't good. What if he got too used to the potion and then lost the formula?

The nightmares were worse though. They were bad enough to always chase away the thought of going without the treatment.

Scaredy was supposed to be done with the harsher nightmares, but they'd only gotten stronger whenever he didn't use the potion. They hadn't ebbed like the other incidences had. Whenever it had happened before, it would only take a few days and some medicine, and then they'd go away for a few weeks.

It'd been entire _seasons_.

Scaredy hadn't wanted to worry Papa Smurf, because then he could smurf away the potion, and that wouldn't be good.

Papa Smurf was too busy anyway, always experimenting on something or working on _real_ problems.

As far as he knew, Scaredy was actually going through some of his best days yet. He hadn't gone to him for medicine or help in months.

Last time he'd been there, way back in winter, Scaredy had made sure to get down the formula, which he'd had to do when Papa Smurf had his back turned, for the medicine so that he could make it himself without bothering anyone.

Oh, he'd been terrified that he'd get found out –still was, really– but he hadn't, so he still went on undiscovered.

He'd also been horrified that he could get it wrong and accidently poison himself, but he hadn't yet. He hadn't wanted to deal with those nightmares without something again.

It was a win-win situation, wasn't it? Scaredy got his help and felt better without having to bother anyone, without having to crawl to them for help.

He didn't like to be a problem the others.

It always upset or frustrated the others when they had to deal with him. Some hid it well, but most didn't even bother to try.

And why would they? Scaredy knew he was scared of too many things, too worried about possibilities and what-ifs instead of the now. He got in the way or brought them down. To some of them, Scaredy was more depressing to be around than Weepy. He'd overheard _that_ more than a few years ago. Sure, it'd stung, but he could get it.

He wasn't brave like Tuffy, he wasn't strong like Hefty, and he couldn't do anything because he was too scared most of the time. Sometimes he felt more useless than Lazy. Scaredy knew that if he was one of them, he wouldn't want to be around him either. So he didn't make them go through that, he dealt with it himself.

It wasn't a perfect plan, though. It took more and more of the potion to get the same results. He was worried, more than usual, what would happen if he had to make more soon… Papa Smurf had been getting suspicious about his disappearing ingredients and supplies.

This is something he'd take care of himself, though. Scaredy trembled and shook, but he wouldn't trouble anybody else with this.

* * *

 **Approximately 95 KM away**

A certain raven-haired Smurfette was sitting up on the roof of the traveling wagon, nursing a black eye. It was more like she was trying to treat most of her face, honestly. The whole thing ached and stung. It wasn't hard for humans to hurt creatures her size; Father'd hardly had to raise more than a finger. Her head snapped up as her brother walked up, stopping right beside her. In his hand he was cupping some kind of light green paste, some sort of- Medicine? She recoiled as the smell hit her. It was definitely medicine. Where in the worl- _Father's_ medicine. Her back stiffened and she could feel the ice as it crept through her veins. She tried to calm down, get herself to relax. It was such a small amount that there was a very large chance he would never know. He had also been drinking heavily again, already having downed more than a few bottles of ale and wine. If he _did_ find out, however…

"No, no, I'm fine. Go back to bed, put that away, you should get some sleep." Hackus, as he'd been named by one of the first children who'd seen him, crossed his arms and shook his head wildly. Why did he have to be so stubborn?

"Father." Her brother could've said a hundred words, and none of them summed the situation up anywhere near as perfectly as that one did. Normally he would've tried using hundreds of words just for the sake of it, he had a tendency to be hyper, but she was glad he'd decided not to ramble on.

"I'm alright. Did he hurt you?" Nonetheless, she took the cream and started applying it. If she waited around too long, Father might just find out.

"No." The raven looked over at her orange haired brother again, yet another short answer being both very nice and very… worrying. He didn't look at her, just sat down right there and looked up, seemingly watching the stars.

She took a second to look at his eyes. Really _look_ at them.

His eyes were the same blue as hers, that hadn't changed, but they had almost always seemed… Brighter before. Livelier, full of energy, almost as if there was some shining spark behind them. Now, however, they were almost as dull as her own. Father had done something, something to actually affect her brother, to crush the bouncing force of laughter and goofiness she knew so well. That was not an easy thing to do; Hackus took most abuse fairly well, almost always bouncing back immediately after every jab, trying to laugh and smile through the pain. Even though there wasn't a single mark on him, he was now quiet and sullen…

The thought of that spark, that light, dying completely, disappearing forever while his body lied still and beaten…

Father would never raise a hand -not even so much as a single _finger_ \- against him, not if she could help it.

He wouldn't do her much more damage than the usual, not if he wanted his customers satisfied. She could risk it even if he forgot, anyways. Her life didn't matter much anyhow. Her brother, happy person that he almost always was, did. He was at least a person.

One little Smurfette would not last long against a god, against her own maker who towered over her and could strangle her easily with one hand, but she would give it her all.

* * *

 **…"Last Update: May".**

 ***Spit take***

 **It's already September, isn't it? *Cough* Aw heck, nope, it's already November. I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date, no time to stop and say** **hello, good-bye, because the readers' all want me to get blown sky-high, I'm late!**

 **Why yes, yes it is. And yes, yes I am. How time flies when you procrastinate and do very little. Heh, sorry?**

 **Oh yes, Tegs is just a lovely influence, isn't he? Nope, no magic of any kind affecting Sassette in any way, not at all. Nor is he corrupting her in the slightest, how _dare_ you suggest it!**

 **For the record, once more: NO, I do NOT have the same ideals and morals as my good-for-nothing smarmy OC does.**

 **By the way, I felt it would be too cheap to just say that time had passed without actually showing it, hence the rather large amount of Tegs and Sassette's adventures here. Sorry, I promise there will be more canon characters in the future. (I'll try, at least.) Honestly, this is pretty much the shortest I could make these scenes without feeling like I was cheating and being cheap.**

 **(Apologies for the ridiculously short length of this chapter as well as how ridiculously long it took me to write it. Real life was a pain, as was the computer's near constant crashing problems. To be honest, this chapter as a whole was a rather large disappointment to me, and I considered multiple times just scrapping the chapter, and even the whole story. Some weeks it just sat here, gathering dust as I tried to ignore it. I really can't stand how long it took me to get this up, I'm so sorry. I really am.)**

 **That reminds me, though- Hah! Canon, I got canon up in this story! I managed to butcher canon events even more! In your _face_ , canon! Doe s canon even have a face?**

 **Contrived coincidences for the win!**

 **Wow. It's November and I've managed to write Christmas scenes. Some of them I even started to write way back in May and June. This is… All types of wrong. Hope they came out well enough, even if it isn't quite the right time of year.**

 **Canon events that were mentioned/shown (Read: Mangled) are from the following, mostly season 5, episodes:**

 **The Masked Pie Smurfer**

 **Happy Unhappiness Day To You**

 **Smurfette's Rose**

 **And, of course, the start of season 6, Smurfquest.**

 **Some dialogue was also directly quoted from said episodes.**

 **The scene with Scaredy is from my own twisted, demented little mind. Note that I am not bashing Scaredy or anything; it's just that it's _fun_ to twist innocent characters!**

 **Yay for me inserting even more head canon and general bullsmurf into this story! Woo-hoo! I can feel your patience with me as a writer stretching even thinner already!**

 **Send all hate mail to the crater I will inevitably beco- *FWEE* Well, _shoot_. Sorry, I've got to run, deadly missiles coming towards me at a few hundred miles per hour and all, see you guys next chapter!**

 **… *FWEE***

 ***Gulp* Well, maybe. Dang, I swear those things are getting faster with each one. And that's the new extra nuclear version, isn't it?**

 **Bye now!**


End file.
